St John’s overhaul remains on track

Jul 17 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

LAND Securities says its planned £100m overhaul of the St John’s shopping centre in Liverpool remains on track despite admitting yesterday the project was not yet part of its “formal development pipeline”.

The company last month secured planning permission to remodel the entire centre and increase the floorspace by almost a quarter.

Work is due to start in 2009 with an anticipated finish by 2013. In a trading statement yesterday the company said: “This project does not yet form part of our formal development pipeline, but can be delivered from 2013.”

However, a spokeswoman told the Daily Post that the group was still looking to start work on the upgrade of St John’s next year.

She added: “We are always doing a huge amount of planning for major schemes like this. We are in good shape despite what is happening in the market and we are already focused on our plans for the long term.”

Land Securities is suffering, along with the rest of the commercial property sector, from the effects of the credit crunch and the slowdown in the UK economy.

St John’s was built in 1969 and was last refurbished 19 years ago but has begun to look tatty.

With the opening of the huge Liverpool One development this year Land Securities felt the centre needed to be brought into the 21st century if it was to compete.