Work has started on Liverpool’s first shipping container retail scheme on Lodge Lane in Toxteth – and local people will see their poetry and stories adorn its walls.

Developer CanCo is promising a “funky, urban development” that takes its lead from similar schemes in Shoreditch and Brixton in London.

CanCo says it will be prioritising local retailers and entrepreneurs with regards to the fourteen available units.

The scheme secured planning permission in August 2018 and now that licencing issues with Liverpool City Council have been agreed, construction work has begun via local contractor Larnook.

“This will help build on Lodge Lane’s continued success,” says local businessman Yas Alawi of Lodge Lane-based New Era Property Management, who has been retained to manage the lettings process.

“It’s the existing community that has given Lodge Lane its energy and so we want as many local people as possible to come forward with ideas to occupy the new units.”

As part of plans to widen the community’s involvement famous local poet and storyteller Levi Tafari is to host workshops with local people, with excerpts from their stories and poems set to adorn the side of the most prominent containers.

Fourteen containers will be available on short, flexible terms to allow local businesses to try out new retail concepts without the risks and costs associated with long, institutional leases.

Site progress – 31 January 2020

The development will use refurbished, insulated shipping containers of 150 sq ft each, with glazed frontages facing Lodge Lane.

The units will be laid out around a landscaped central courtyard on a site bounded by Lodge Lane and Grierson Street, with containers painted different colours and some stacked two high to offer a striking, modern frontage.

Nathan Schreiber of CanCo says he wants the scheme to represent the ethos of ‘Made in Liverpool’.

“Our contractors are local, we’ve sourced the containers in Liverpool and we want our tenants to be from as close to Lodge Lane as possible,” he adds.

Work has already begun clearing the site to allow the laying of a large concrete plinth on which the containers will sit. Construction is expected to be completed by mid-March, with units available for occupation after Easter.

Interested occupiers are asked to contact Yas Alawi directly on 07500 900 830 or yas@newerapm.co.uk

Related posts:

Plans for new Toxteth retail area to be built from shipping containers Full programme revealed for weekend’s Vintage on the Dock August Street Style in Liverpool Liverpool’s Summer Arts Market to relocate this year Albert Dock owner presses ahead with new retail vision for the site New kids’ designer department store announced for Metquarter