SimpsonHaugh design for 5-star hotel and residences
Davos Property Developments Limited in conjunction with Beetham Davos Ltd today (10th March) revealed plans for a 70-storey tower to form the centrepiece of its £1bn Kings project on the Liverpool waterfront.
The tower, designed by SimpsonHaugh, will comprise a 5-star hotel and luxury residences managed by the hotel operator. The news, revealed at the MIPIM international property trade fair at a private event for investors and end-users, comes just weeks after the scheme’s first tower of 28 storeys, named No. 1 Kings, received consent from Liverpool City Council.
Commenting on today’s reveal, Hugh Frost, chairman of Beetham Davos, said: “This will be the scheme’s signature building and is the ultimate expression of our confidence in Liverpool and the council’s backing for our ambition.”
The tower offers the first glimpse of the emerging masterplan for the 8-acre site, to the north of the city’s famous Pier Head. Talks are ‘well underway’ with a global hotel brand to take the whole of the building, revealed Mr Frost.
“They share our view of Liverpool as outward-looking and international and therefore a good fit for their brand,” he said.
The hotel would occupy the first 23 floors of the building, offering 212 high-specification rooms, with the balance taken up by 563 luxury residences. Guest and resident amenities would include bars, restaurants, gymnasiums, banqueting and meeting facilities and a rooftop terrace. In all, the building would provide 924,000 square feet of space, making it the second largest building by floor space in Liverpool, after its famous Tobacco Warehouse.
Commenting on his designs, Ian Simpson of SimpsonHaugh said: “This is a landmark intervention for Britain’s most dramatic waterfront skyline. It is rooted in the city’s architectural vernacular and its maritime history but offers a very contemporary expression of both.”
Simpson says the form draws on the naval engineering and industrial motifs that remain integral to Liverpool’s dominant maritime trade, with the façade expression referencing ‘the birthplace of skyscrapers’, Peter Ellis’s ground-breaking Oriel Chambers in the city, the world’s first metal-framed, glazed curtain-walled building, constructed in 1864.
“The tower’s setting optimises the high-quality public realm around it, whilst the soft corners maximise the panoramic views in every direction. I wanted to deliver a building that not only sat well with its neighbours, but also reflects the ambition of the city,” he added.
The building is one of ten that are proposed for Kings, which will link the city’s business district with its waterfront and its rapidly expanding cruise industry.
“Only last week it was confirmed that there will be 135 cruise ships visiting Liverpool during the 2026 season. This number will grow as the new cruise terminal is completed and the landing stage extended to accommodate two ships at a time,” said Hugh Frost.
“Demand for the hotel will be driven in part by cruise passengers seeking to start or finish their journeys in the same style and luxury offered on board.”
350,000 passengers are expected to use Liverpool cruise terminal this year, creating a surge in demand for hotel occupancy from April to October. “By the time our hotel is complete, we’re expecting more than 200 cruise ships a season,” added Frost.
The tower is one of ten buildings anticipated in the emerging masterplan for the site, which will go out to public consultation later this spring, before an expected planning submission in late summer.
The hybrid application will seek detailed consent for layout and site services and outline consent for each building plot and will include residential towers, two hotels, Grade A offices, a new arts venue, shared workspace for start-ups and tech businesses and a range of food and beverage outlets.
“Kings is a new neighbourhood for the UK’s most recognisable waterfront, and it will reflect the confidence and outward-looking nature of our city. It will be for everyone to enjoy, and this hotel will allow visitors to be at its very heart,” said Hugh Frost.
Brock Carmichael are the masterplan architects for Kings, with Pegasus Group providing planning, economics, heritage and EIA Services and Planit leading on public realm design.
About the tower
- 221.5m/727 feet in height. Liverpool’s current tallest building is the nearby West Tower, developed by Beetham in 2007, which stands at 140 metres/459 feet.
- The hotel will occupy 82,000 square feet, offering 212 rooms.
- The residential element will occupy 409,000 sq ft, offering 563 luxury residences
- There will be 24,000 square feet of residential amenities, as well as…
- …32,000 square feet of food and beverage space
Liverpool’s Tobacco Warehouse has a net floor area of 1.6m square feet over 14 storeys and is recognised as Europe’s largest brick building by volume.
