John Moores University buys abandoned Copperas Hill

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Exclusive: Liverpool John Moores University buys abandoned Copperas Hill sorting office bought for city centre campus

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LIVERPOOL’S abandoned Copperas Hill postal sorting office is to be given a new lease of life – as the first-class “epicentre” of John Moores University.

The Daily Post can exclusively reveal that the dormant former Royal Mail building has been snapped up by Liverpool JMU in a sale understand to be worth around £2.6m.

Last night, council and regeneration officials hailed the move as “an important step” in the continued growth of the city’s Knowledge Quarter and making Liverpool a global magnet for students.

The 24,000 square metre Copperas Hill building sprawls over several floors on a 3½-acre site adjacent to Lime Street Station, and was purpose-built for the Royal Mail.

From 1977, it served as a sorting office until it closed in October, 2010, when the Royal Mail opted to move operations and 600 employers to Warrington – with some choosing to take redundancy.


But, in its biggest-ever single land purchase, and taking its development spending since 2003 up to £180m, Liverpool John Moores is this week putting pen to paper to take ownership of the building.

Although plans are in their infancy, the building will be refurbished rather than demolished, and transformed as a lecture base which is likely to house departments such as admissions and student support.

It is also expected to open by 2014 ahead of the sell-off of the university’s IM Marsh campus, and help absorb departments based at the Aigburth site including faculties for education, community and leisure.

Last night, the university said the purchase would form the “epicentre” of its 10-year campus development plan.

It comes hot on the heels of the new £37.6m Redmonds Building, which opens in Clarence Street next year. It will consolidate teaching within the Mount Pleasant campus and be the base for the Faculty of Business and Law, the Liverpool Screen School and Professional Centre.

Professor Michael Brown, who retires at the end of the month after 11 years as Vice-Chancellor, said: “This strategic investment will provide for the future success of the university.

“LJMU aims to prepare students for the knowledge economy by providing a life-changing educational experience combining academic and world of work skills, and now we can also place them in the very heart of it by location.”

Liverpool council said it had worked “extensively” with owners, the Royal Mail Group, to ensure the premises were passed to a party willing to invest in the building, supporting regeneration of the wider Lime Street and Copperas Hill area.

Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said the sale was an “exciting opportunity to work closely with the University on the redevelopment of a key area of the city which provides the important link from the Knowledge Quarter to the city centre”.

And Max Steinberg, chief executive of the council’s regeneration agency, Liverpool Vision, said: “The acquisition is an extremely important step in delivering Liverpool’s strategic ambitions to grow the strength and reputation of its city centre knowledge quarter.


“The refurbishment and redevelopment of this building for university- related use will act as a catalyst for the development of further high-quality floorspace in the immediate area reconnecting the main retail core of the city centre to the universities area”.

DTZ,the Royal Mail Group’s estate representative, said the university emerged as the preferred bidder amid tenders from local and national developers.

This, said nChris Lloyd, DTZ’s associate director, reaffirmed “the building and site’s long-term regeneration potential”.

The development comes after the university struck a deal with Liverpool council to create a “city-wide sports campus”.

From September, the university will give the local authority £400,000 per year in return for its 25,000 students and 3,000 staff getting no-cost, off-peak access to council-run gyms and pools.

It followed confirmation the university was pulling the plug on its pool at the IM Marsh campus, used by scores of city swimmers and Liverpool Diving Club.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

John Moores University Copperas Hill deal welcomed by mail unions http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liv ... -29298325/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RUNION chiefs who had led a campaign to keep the sorting office in the city last night said they were glad the building had a future.

And Ray Lucas, acting Merseyside branch member for the Communication Workers Union, said it was “a possibility” that a tunnel linking Lime Street station with the Copperas Hill building, historically used to carry train-bound mail, could serve as a direct walkway for students.

“I don’t think it has been used for a long time, but it is a possibility the annexed tunnel could be opened up as a direct access route for students arriving by train.”

He added: “Personally, I’m glad the building is not being wasted. There’s been the uncertainty surrounding TJ Hughes and a general decline in the area.”

[Darren Bent]

I hope they will hire some former postal workers to work there in different role.