The Hartley Locks development in Liverpool
The Hartley Locks development in Liverpool
A residential development of nearly 200 homes which looks onto Everton FC's new stadium is nearing completion. Hartley Locks, a £51m project on Lightbody Street in has seen 185 apartments, ten townhouses and several commercial units built by housing association Torus.
Ground was and it is almost finished, with the first residents expected to make it their home in three weeks' time. All homes built are for rent to buy, meaning that people pay 80% of the market rent, which is designed to make saving for a deposit to buy a home easier.
The project is being delivered at the same time that Everton's men's team has made . It is one of many in the vicinity of the new ground, such as the Tobacco Warehouse, which is being converted into apartments.
Torus managing director Chris Bowen Hartley Locks has been built in a style which suits the area's industrial past.
He explained: "It's a big brick-built structure, much in keeping with the Tobacco Warehouse across the road .
"Everton's stadium has replicated that too. I think more than a million bricks have been used during the construction of this - it does give that heritage and industrial feel of it, being in keeping with what former uses were.
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"There are still a lot of existing warehouses around here that are now converted, which are going to be here for a long time yet and are of a similar design."
A number of the properties have balconies which overlook . Mr Bowen believes the project will play a key role in the .
About the delivery of the project, he said: "It's a busy time for us at the moment, we're about three weeks off handover. We've taken the entire development in one go - 195 units, so it's going to be quite a challenge.
"But with contractor Eric Wright, we're fully confident that everything will be ready and within a month it should have people in, living here. We've got a lot of people that are ready to move.
"It's been about three years, for a scheme of this size, that's pretty good going. I think it's been a challenging time economically for and, on schemes such as this, which is over £50m investment in North Liverpool, I'm confident that it's been brought in as quickly as it could have done.
"Timing wise we're really happy and it's coincided with everything else going on around the area, it's a busy time in North Liverpool."
View of Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse from the Hartley Locks Development
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Railway Arches renovated for Retail Units
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The view out across Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, towards the Bascule Bridge and Wirral Coastline beyond, from one of the Hartley Locks' apartments (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo) 3 of 8