Proposal to build Liverpool's tallest tower unveiled

Plans for Liverpool’s tallest tower have been unveiled by the practice of former RIBA president Stephen Hodder.

Called Ovatus 2, the residential tower will be 48 storeys tall and will be a sister tower to another Hodder & Partners designed high-rise called Ovatus 1. This was submitted to planners last December with work set to start on site this April, subject to approval.

The Ovatus 2 scheme will be submitted to city planners later this year – although no firm date has yet been given – and is eight storeys higher than the city’s current tallest building, West Tower, which was completed 10 years ago by the then Aedas and built by Carillion. It was built for developer Beetham.

Both Ovatus towers are being developed by Prospect Capital and Wilcocks & Wilcocks with the latter firm’s Martin Wilcocks hailing the scheme as “a highly visible, landmark location that stands at the gateway to Liverpool’s World Heritage site. We’re working with a strong team that we know will deliver the build in a way that does justice to its potential.”

Ovatus 2 will consist of 530 apartments with the 27-storey Ovatus 1 featuring 168 homes. Indigo Planning is advising on both towers.

The development site for both towers sits within the buffer zone boundary of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site and is located less than half a mile away from the Princes Dock, which backs onto the waterfront of the river Mersey.

Ovatus 1 is being on a plot on the corner of Leeds Street and Old Hall Street while the official address for Ovatus 2 is 122 Old Hall Street.

The towers are the latest in a string of tall buildings either in the planning stage or on site in Liverpool.

Last October, the council OK’d plans by Falconer Chester Hall for a 22-storey student residential tower close to the city’s Unesco’s world heritage site despite concerns raised by Unesco and other heritage groups over the damage the scheme could do to the historic Liverpool Waters nearby.