Liverpool Foundation Homes and Everton FC at 'The Great North'
Ethical housing development and stadium-led regeneration were the opening topics for Future Cities Forum at RIBA North this week. Mark Kitts, CEO of Liverpool Foundation Homes, the city council's new housing company, was joined by Everton FC board director Richard Kenyon and Iain Jenkinson, the Head of National Planning at CBRE, who is advising the premier league club on the Bramley-Moore Dock project.
Mark commented that Liverpool's housing crisis is different from many parts of the country:
'Many cities would give their right arm for a historic waterfront like Liverpool's but there are areas of deprivation around Anfield, Everton and Picton, and houses there need refurbishment, especially as so many are of pre-1914 stock. Foundation Homes has a remit to intervene on regeneration broadly to help skills and jobs as well on new homes. We are not a social housing company, and we will buy land for the council where needed. We want to collaborate with developers to create a range of new housing types on viable sites. We will use the profits from these developments to cross-subsidise improvements to more challenged areas, in North Liverpool for instance.'
Please listen to Mark Kitts here:
Richard Kenyon, who is also Chief Executive of Everton in the Community, then described how the club's new stadium project on the historic dock site at Liverpool Waters would help to connect the north and centre of the city, as well as providing a legacy for Goodison Park. The club, which owns the oldest purpose-built professional ground in the country, is consulting very closely with the community to work out what is the best legacy, and what this might include in terms of facilities, and for women's football. The most recent public consultation on the new stadium received 20,000 responses, the vast majority being positive about the plans to develop and regenerate.
Heritage preservation has added significant costs to the project, according to CBRE's Iain Jenkinson, who explained that the chosen site at Bramley Moore Dock fulfilled the criteria of achieving an 'iconic' situation for Everton's new ground, as well as recognising the cultural role of Everton in the city, and linking to the story of the docks and the communities that grew up with them.
The construction work alone on Bramley Moore Dock could create 12,000 new jobs for local people, according to CBRE, with more than £255 million to be spent in Liverpool for support services during the building phase. The stadium site is located close to the planned Ten Streets creative district, and not far from the proposed new ferry and cruise liner terminals.
Please view contributions from Richard Kenyon of Everton FC and Iain Jenkinson of CBRE below: