Liverpool Daily Post

By Dan Haygarth

Hello,

Your Liverpool Daily Post is with you slightly later than usual today as I spent the morning on site at Littlewoods. Remediation work, which began in December, has almost finished and the construction phase is soon to begin, as the former football pools headquarters prepares for life as a film and TV studio complex. You can read my report from the site below.

Elsewhere, as John Textor is granted exclusivity in Everton takeover talks, Joe Thomas takes you inside the club. And Ed Barnes looks at what a Merseyside town could learn from Sweden in its regeneration.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

Inside iconic Liverpool building before it is changed forever

Work is progressing to convert Liverpool's iconic Littlewoods building into a film studio campus, with the aim of the city becoming the 'Hollywood of the North'. The iconic art deco structure on Edge Lane was constructed in 1938 and was the headquarters of the football pools empire.

However, it was vacated almost 30 years ago and cut an increasingly dilapidated figure in the years since. The structure was devastated by a huge fire in 2018, while years of vandalism and urban decay have taken their toll.

Developer Capital&Centric (C&C) acquired the site in that same year. Having begun in December, it is in the process of converting the site into the TV and film studio complex - two new 20,000 square foot studio stages will be the first structures to be constructed on the land, subject to approval from Liverpool City Council.

The developer says the ￡70m project is on track to be completed in 2027. The existing building will be brought back to life and will be used alongside the new studios, as well as existing facilities at The Depot, which opened in 2021.

C&C opened the doors to the Littlewoods site today (August 16) for the first time since remediation work began last December. The iconic clock tower has been dismantled after being assessed as unsafe, but the intention is to rebuild it in the same spot, reusing elements of the original from the overhaul of the site.

Elsewhere, the building’s walls have been stabilised and the two wings cleared ready to be restored and repurposed. A central hangar – which will become a foodhall, screening and performance zone alongside a green courtyard – has also been fully cleared ready for construction to commence. The courtyard will also include a 'Scouse walk of fame', paying tribute to the city's stars of stage and screen, while the central hangar will be an entertainment area with a bar and cinema rooms, open to the public.

C&C this week launched a call for would-be main contractors to express an interest in transforming the site into the film and TV campus. The appointed team will be responsible for the reworking of the existing wings, replacing the clock tower and building the two sound stages on neighbouring land.

The studio complex is central to Steve Rotheram’s ambition for the city region to become what he has called the "Hollywood of the North". Liverpool is now the most filmed city in the UK outside London, with productions such as 'The Batman' and 'Peaky Blinders' using the region for filming in recent years, but the Metro Mayor hopes the studios will create jobs in the film industry on Merseyside. The combined authority has committed up to ￡17m for the studios.

At the site today, Mr Rotheram told the ECHO: "It's hugely important to bring Littlewoods back to life and it's hugely exciting to be here to see what progress has been made in such a short space of time. It's all about what happens next.

"The integrity of the building has been preserved - that was number one because it's a historic building, it's an art deco building and there are very few of those left. That was the important thing but it was always with the intention that this could be something of huge magnitude. So having it as a film epicentre, starting to think about the end use of all of these buildings, is the exciting part for me.

"Liverpool is the most filmed city outside of London, as we know. But the issue for me has always been that whilst it's a brilliant backdrop for blockbuster films, most of the post-production is done outside of the city region. We want to retain as many of those features as we possibly can for people here. We want local people to have those good jobs.

"It could be around 3,000 people employed on this site. When Littlewoods was around and they had the pools here, it was about 3,000 people working. I think that's a lovely synergy between what happened here historically and what we want this building to be in the future."

The Metro Mayor added: "People think it's trite to say 'Hollywood of the North' because there's always a 'Hollywood of something', but why not have those lofty ambitions? Why not aim for the very, very top?

"Why not Liverpool? That's the question. It should be that Liverpool can do these things. I believe, with the right partners, with the right developers, hopefully persuading the government for some of the support for the viability gap, this could happen very, very quickly. Just imagine how this will animate the whole community and the whole of the Liverpool City Region?"?

Click here to look around the Littlewoods site as it prepares for the next stage of development.

Everton takeover news even surprised club officials - there was no hint when I was at Finch Farm

The heavens opened and then so did the downpour of queries that followed such a familiar theme. It is the start of a new season but it begins with old questions surrounding Everton, reports Joe Thomas.

And once again Sean Dyche was back at Finch Farm, sitting in front of a collection of journalists, fielding questions about off-the-pitch issues beyond his influence.

Flash back a month and he could have been forgiven for thinking this was all over as he made the trip from the luxurious Carton House resort, just outside Dublin, to the west coast of Ireland and Seamus Coleman’s reunion with Sligo Rovers.

His talisman, James Tarkowski, may have been forced to leave Everton’s pre-season training camp early with a glute concern but, otherwise, the summer was going well. A busy week of training had included two double sessions and he was already scheming about how to deploy three new summer signings.

Then the news hit that the prospective takeover of the club by The Friedkin Group had fallen through and the uncertainty over the club’s ownership that had tainted his tenure on Merseyside was back.

That meant that, this afternoon, as the rain was pouring down outside the club’s training complex, he too was back, with a new sponsors board that now includes kit manufacturer Castore behind him, answering questions about club ownership, finances and majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

At one point Dyche used a phrase now so familiar to all of us. Those playing ‘Dyche bingo’ at home did not have to wait long to tick “control the controllables” from their line.

But he had a point - he cannot control the search for new investment and owners so his focus was on those matters that do fall under his influence.

Maybe, just maybe, things are about to change, however. It was shortly after the press conference concluded that reports broke of a potential breakthrough with Moshiri entering formal talks with US billionaire John Textor over the sale of the club.

We have been here before. Four exclusivity deals in two years have passed without true progress. And there are several significant hurdles facing any deal - from Textor’s need to sell his 45% share in Crystal Palace to his need to find a plan to deal with some of the more problematic areas of Everton’s debt.

There was nothing to suggest Dyche had any awareness of these talks as he sat before the media, indeed they came as a surprise to many key figures within the club.

But if the result is ultimately stability behind the scenes and no more questions about such complicated matters, then neither Dyche nor anyone associated with the Blues will likely care about when and how such a breakthrough was achieved.

The message at Finch Farm on Thursday was a positive one. No-one was hiding from the impact off-the-pitch issues could have and no-one was ignoring the shadow they cast over the new season.But there is a genuine feeling of positivity and optimism on the football side. Those whose jobs are at Finch Farm ended last season with pride at what had been achieved.

Everton had secured survival far earlier than previous seasons, despite far greater obstacles, but in much more emphatic fashion.

The fever dream that was that exhilarating Merseyside win that essentially sealed Premier League safety was just one part of a season finale in which the fact the Blues probably would have finished in the top half without two unprecedented points deductions was not lost on anyone.

The progress felt behind closed doors by May has been built upon over the summer. Finances remain a constraint to team building and Dyche openly admitted he believes his squad is thinner than he would like should the wrong injuries flare at the wrong time.

But there is a sense of satisfaction that the club has channelled summer transfer business down the avenues it hoped - securing long-term targets, protecting Jarrad Branthwaite and bringing in good money for players Dyche could come to terms with losing.

That positive thread currently runs through Finch Farm and everything suggests it runs through parts of the fanbase too.

The atmosphere for the friendly with Roma was vibrant and in the final half an hour there was a buzz as the likes of Iliman Ndiaye provided a thrill of excitement felt too rarely in the stands over recent seasons.

That sense of optimism and hope was again palpable outside Finch Farm on Thursday afternoon, as dozens of families braved the roadworks around the estate to use what is left of the summer holidays to try and snag an autograph, chat or selfie with a departing player.

Such goodwill means Everton take momentum into the start of a poignant season. If they can build on it with a good start then it will ease the pressure on everyone at the club, with so many now so desperate for the headlines to finally be about what happens on the pitch.

Maybe, Moshiri is now one step closer to doing what he can to make that a reality. Maybe Dyche will not be facing questions about ownership and takeovers forever.?

'Unique' city 1,500 miles from Merseyside town could be 'model' for its future

Around 1,500 miles away from Birkenhead lies a new neighbourhood that could be the blueprint for its future. Like large parts of the Wirral town, the Royal Seaport in Stockholm had many industrial uses over its history as a port but by 2030, it’s expected to be transformed into 12,000 new homes with a plan to bring in 35,000 jobs.

The Royal Seaport plans in Stockholm have long been in development with negotiations around the use of the port and nearby gasworks starting in 2000 and the first homes built in 2011. The development has won awards with its eight kilometres of coastline in an attractive location ten minutes from Stockholm and next to the Royal National City Park.

In a recent document approved by councillors for a new neighbourhood surrounding the planned Dock Branch Park, Wirral Council pointed to the Royal Seaport as a type of development it wanted to replicate. This includes “giving priority to walking and biking, followed by public transport and private cars” as well as “ensuring every day services and public transport are no further than 400m away."?

Here, Ed Barnes looks at what that could mean for Wirral.

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