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Project Background

Lord Street Living is all about regeneration

Lord Street Living is a regeneration project encouraging enhancement of and investment in Southport’s historic buildings through development of vacant spaces above shops.

Image of Lord Street street sign

  • The Area

    Lord Street is the main historic commercial and tourist area of Southport with an impressive array and concentration of historic buildings and beautiful verandahs.  Its grand layout, impressive architecture, attractive public gardens and spaces and its high-quality range of shops and leisure facilities have made it a real destination in the Northwest.  Lord Street’s historic significance has been recognised through its designation as a Conservation Area.  

  • The Challenges

    Like many towns and cities, high streets are facing challenges. Changing consumer behaviour, more home working, retail businesses progressively moving online, shorter non-repair leases, and increasing numbers of vacant stores, are all affecting demand for retail space and the income owners receive to maintain properties.

  • The Project

    The deteriorating condition of some properties and high vacancy rates has directly contributed to the Lord Street Conservation Area being put on Historic England’s National ‘At Risk’ Register.  We want to address this by encouraging owners to convert vacant spaces above shops to residential units, so enhancement of historic buildings becomes financially viable. 

    The project area is focused on Lord Street, Southport.

  • Funders

    This project is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority as the lead authority, and by Historic England’s Conservation Area Management Programme.  It is managed by Sefton Council as the local planning authority.

The benefits

Why Lord Street Living?

  • Image of Lord Street street sign
  • Image showing the top of a row of buildings on Lord Street
  • Image of the front of a building
  • Image showing the front of a bar on Lord Street
  • Image of Lord Street with people sitting outside a bar
  • Image showing a row of buildings on Lord Street

Historic Assets

Improvement and enhancement of historic buildings

 

Enhancing wider streetscape

 

Removal of Conservation Area ‘At Risk’ status

 

Improving heritage knowledge and adaptation practice

 

Communities

Increase in housing provision, close to existing amenities

 

Improved sense of pride in local area

 

Assists community safety through day and night activity. ‘Eyes on the Street’

 

There is Government support for commercial conversion to residential to meet housing need

Environmental

Positive contribution to net zero targets through re-use of existing buildings

 

No new infrastructure is required

 

Residents will often be closer to their place of work

 

Southport already has good connectivity to public transport across the Merseyside region

Economic

Contributes to recovery of local economy

 

Year-round sustainable footfall from residents and tourists

 

Increased income for building owners to direct to repair costs

 

Catalyst for private sector investment and job creation. Diversification of portfolio can help reduce risk for investors and offer more financial stability

Help us regenerate historic hotspots

Find out more by getting in touch

If you have a property that you would like to bring forward for the project or want to know more, get in touch.

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