The redevelopment of Paradise Street in Liverpool city centre is the largest regeneration project in Europe. Utilising a brown field site, it is currently being converted to a mixed-use, retail-led, urban regeneration scheme, covering 1.65 million square feet of new retail facilities.
A major constraint in any brown field development, particularly in heavily serviced inner city areas, is the upgrading and diversion of the utility supply services hidden beneath the ground.
WSP has comprehensive experience in major utility upgrade and new supply works, both in their design and procurement. Prior to this project, WSP had negotiated one of the first “out of area” power supply deals in 2001 on the Bullring project in Birmingham, saving a significant amount of construction cost.
The Paradise Street works required the multiple diversion and new supply of the following services;
- Data and telecommunication services for multiple operators
- HV & LV power supplies
- Natural gas
- Potable water
- Surface & foul water drainage
- Combine sewers
The feasibility works started in 1999 and the installation and diversion works will continue through until 2008.
The utilities package was competitively bid by three suppliers and the project works appointed in 2004. By taking the multi utility approach, based on our extensive knowledge of the market, the client was able to achieve multi-million pound savings and effectively offset a number of major risks to the project, as well as increasing the opportunity for a successful project completion.