Liverpool docks skyscraper plans move step closer

It will have a mixture of office, retail and residential properties

Plans to build the tallest skyscraper in Liverpool have moved a step forward.

Developers have secured funding for the first phase of a 165m (541ft), 54-storey high building on the city's historic waterfront by Leeds Street.

If the council grants planning permission, it will loom over the city's highest building, the West Tower, by 25m (82ft).

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has also been reviewing the proposals.

Landowners Richmont Properties Ltd and developer Y1 Developments have drawn up the plans.

Peter Buglass, of Richmont Properties, said: "These designs and artists' impressions are still work in progress but are indicative of how the building might look.

"We are confident that following final revisions arising from the CABE review the application will move forward quickly to a positive conclusion."

It is their second submission, with proposals being rejected in 2007.

The new plans are understood to be a complete redesign from that proposed in 2007 with the new designs having incorporated comments made by the city council and CABE.

The building will have a mixture of office, retail and residential properties with a large restaurant at high level and an open viewing deck accessible by the public.

The base of the tower and the surrounding open public space will provide shops, cafes and bars with terrace seating.

The building should be completed by 2014, subject to planning permission, the developers said.