Plans revealed for new `live/learn’ development for Liverpool International College

The proposed new LIC facility

Proposals for a new ‘live-learn’ facility for Liverpool International College (LIC) fronting onto Grove Street will be revealed today (18 October) as part of the formal public consultation process.

The plans detail a purpose-built development that will include 45,000 sq ft of modern teaching and learning space and 260 beds in the new Knowledge Quarter where Grove Street intersects Smithdown Lane.

Operated through a partnership between the University and Kaplan, LIC recruits and prepares more than 800 international students for entry into the University’s degree programmes each year with courses in academic skills, key subject knowledge and English language. Liverpool is one of the most desirable cities in the UK for international students and demand for places at the University of Liverpool is increasing year on year.

Knowledge Quarter Liverpool is a 450-acre urban innovation district and is home to some of the world’s most influential players in science, health, technology, education, music and the creative and performing arts.  With over £1bn of new developments currently underway and a further £1bn in the pipeline, it plans to increase the city’s employment figures, improve graduate retention and attraction rates and establish Liverpool at the forefront of the Northern Powerhouse.

The new facility will:

• Deliver 45,000 sq ft on 12 storeys of cutting-edge academic, residential and administrative space with an impressive three-storey atrium
• Provide a home away from home for the international students with 260 beds in larger single bedrooms, in a mix of cluster and studio apartments, all en-suite, with enhanced storage
• House a café, Knowledge Hub, study booths, and social area with game and study zones with expanded opening hours to suit students’ varied schedules
• Provide 24/7 surveillance from reception
• Offer access to University facilities including libraries, IT suites and sports facilities
• Act as a gateway to the University of Liverpool campus with its frontage onto Grove Street
• Enhance the new Knowledge Quarter with the first landmark building for Paddington Place, the site of the old Archbishop Blanche School, at the top of Brownlow Hill
• Have fantastic views across the City of Liverpool, up the Mersey out to the Irish Sea and across the Cheshire Plain to the Welsh Hills
• Open in 2019

Leelee Yates, Director of LIC, said: “We are currently located in the University’s Sir Alistair Pilkington Building in Mulberry Street. With the College growing and requiring more space and the University needing to increase its use of the building, this was the right time for us to develop our own purpose-built facility. Students are increasingly demanding when it comes to student experience, and this new facility will allow us to continue to attract the very best students from around the world to the city.

“International students bring a great deal to the city of Liverpool, economically and culturally. Since LIC opened in 2007, we have consistently attracted more and more talented young people from around the world – last academic year, our students accounted for nearly 50 per cent of the University’s international recruitment into first year undergraduate programmes, which shows just how important the college is.”

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Janet Beer, said: “The University has partnered with Kaplan since 2007 to prepare international students for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The new development will ensure Liverpool International College is able to offer the high level of student experience necessary to compete for the best students from around the world. It is ideally situated at the gateway to the University campus enabling convenient access to University facilities including the library, sports centre and support facilities.”

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, said: “I’m delighted that Kaplan International is investing in Paddington Village. This is exactly the type of scheme and collaboration that will ensure Paddington Village establishes itself as a world leading hub for innovation. With The Royal College of Physicians already on board and more deals in the pipeline, this is another huge vote of confidence in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter.’’

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of KQ Liverpool, said: “International students are part of the fabric which has established Liverpool as one of the UK’s leading university cities and the expansion of Liverpool International College should help to safeguard and develop the numbers that study here. The level of investment being made by Kaplan in partnership with the University of Liverpool into a purpose-built facility at Paddington Village reinforces the pivotal role that education, along with science, healthcare and culture, will play in the future of the Knowledge Quarter.”

Nigel Jones, Head of Estates and Construction for Kaplan International, said: “This exciting new multi-million pound development will kick start the rejuvenation of the site of a demolished former school and be the first landmark building for the Paddington Place Development within the new Knowledge Quarter.”

A public consultation exhibition is being held at the Foresight Centre to view the plans on Tuesday 18 October from 4-7pm.

The project team will be on hand to answer any questions and visitors can provide feedback via questionnaires on the day. This public consultation is the final stage before a planning application is submitted for the proposed new facility next month.