Liverpool’s Pumpfields redevelopment takes a major step forward

One of Liverpool’s most significant redevelopment projects, Pumpfields, has taken a major step forward as a team of placemaking experts has been selected.

The redevelopment plans to see the revitalisation of Pumpfields – a 75-acre zone on the northern edge of the city centre.

The team, led by Levitt Bernstein and including Montagu Evans, Arup, and Turner Works, has been appointed by Liverpool City Council to develop a residential-led, mixed-use neighbourhood, attracting investment and breathing new life into this long-overlooked part of the city.

The development of Pumpfields is also seen as a key component to complement the recently announced New Town Taskforce submission, which spans 5km from just north of Liverpool city centre, across Everton, Anfield, and Kirkdale and into Bootle and Sefton.

Early scoping of the visionary New Towns proposal aims to create at least 10,000 new homes and stimulate further regeneration across the city region. 

The Pumpfields team will work with local stakeholders to develop a quality, place-based, delivery masterplan that meets the needs of the community and creates a high-quality place to live, work, and play.

The Pumpfields plan, which has a key aim of restitching the city centre from the Leeds Street corridor into north Liverpool, will focus on:

• Identifying opportunities for development
• Setting design guidelines
• Creating a strong policy framework
• Reusing existing buildings
• Improving public spaces, connections and infrastructure

Once completed, the Council will seek to adopt the plan as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which will be used to guide all future developments in the area.

The revitalisation of Pumpfields has the potential to transform a long-neglected area into a thriving new community, one that will also improve connectivity with the city centre and the waterfront, as well as informing the work on the New Town scheme.

The plan for Pumpfields comes just a few weeks after Liverpool City Council officially submitted a visionary bid to the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government for New Town status to expand the northern fringe of the city into Bootle.

Liverpool City Council has worked in collaboration with Sefton Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England, and the key landowners in the area to set out a 10-year vision for the area.

The partnership could see the ambitious proposals revitalise communities blighted by high-deprivation, unlocking its economic potential for decades to come.

New Town status is a designation given to certain areas in the UK that are undergoing significant redevelopment. These areas are often characterised by a mix of old and new housing, commercial spaces, and infrastructure.

Councillor Nick Small, Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet member for Growth and Development, said:

“The Pumpfields area is a vitally important part of our vision to expand out from the city centre into North Liverpool.

“It’s a part of Liverpool that’s been overlooked but its time has now come with the emergence of the New Town plan. Pumpfields is ripe for the type of regeneration that will redraw and reshape its economic and housing landscape for the rest of this century.

“I welcome the appointment of this team of placemaking experts. This area deserves a plan that befits our ambitions to grow the city and to knit the Commercial District through to Ten Streets and Liverpool Waters. The vision is to build a place where people can live, work, and play. We want to create a community where everyone feels at home.

“This project is about more than just bricks and mortar. It’s about creating opportunities for people, whether it’s through new jobs, better schools, or improved transportation.

“We’re building for the future, creating a sustainable community that will be a great place to live for generations to come.”

Jo McCafferty, architect and director Levitt Bernstein, commented on behalf of the wider team:

“We are absolutely delighted to have won this vital commission to work with Liverpool City Council and the Pumpfields and Lime Kilns community to develop a ground-breaking and deliverable vision for such a strategic neighbourhood in Liverpool North.

“A vision which reactivates this key quarter in Liverpool, to stitch it back into the wider area, reintroduces crucial connections to the City Centre and supports site specific, mixed-use development and re-uses heritage buildings and structures, is absolutely at the heart of this project. 

“Our team bring international experience alongside deep local knowledge and commitment to Liverpool. It is the dream commission and we have hit the ground running already this year.”

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