Sciontec Developments has applied for planning permission for the Liverpool City Region’s first operational net-zero office building in the city’s Knowledge Quarter Innovation District.
The proposed £35m, eight-storey, 116,000 sq ft, Grade A development, called HEMISPHERE, will be targeted at health, education, science and tech occupiers. It will be located in the Knowledge Quarter’s Paddington Village. It will aim to achieve an excellent rating for BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), a standard currently met by just 10 per cent of buildings in the UK have this rating.
Alongside the office space, HEMISPHERE will include collaboration spaces, a wellness studio, café and new areas of high-quality public realm. It is estimated HEMISPHERE will create up to 800 new jobs in the knowledge sector and support up to 100 apprenticeships during its construction phase.
If Sciontec’s planning application is approved, construction will begin on the site, which is owned by Liverpool City Council, in summer 2023, and will complete by summer 2025.
Sciontec’s propsed investment follows the £12m already invested in Paddington Village by the Liverpool combined authority’s single investment fund for enabling works, unlocking economic potential to accelerate growth for the city region.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Developments like this are befitting of a modern, forward-looking city region like ours. Sciontec’s plans for HEMISPHERE encapsulate much of my vision for the region: Harnessing the expertise of our world class universities in the heart of the Knowledge Quarter, attracting nationwide jobs and housing it all in one of the cleanest, greenest buildings in our region – the first to be operationally net zero.”
