IN Brief:
- GRAHAM has been selected to construct No.1 Kings, the first building in Liverpool’s wider proposed Kings waterfront scheme.
- The 28-storey tower is planned to contain 255 build-to-rent homes, retail space, and residents’ facilities.
- The first tower has planning approval, while later elements of the £1.2bn masterplan require further consent.
GRAHAM has been appointed to construct the first residential tower in the proposed £1.2bn Kings waterfront redevelopment in Liverpool. No.1 Kings is a 28-storey building with planning permission for 255 homes for rent, ground-floor retail, residents’ facilities, and rooftop social space. The contractor was selected following negotiations with shortlisted bidders and is expected to begin work on site around the middle of 2027.
No.1 Kings has an estimated gross development value of £80m, covering the value of the completed property rather than the amount payable under GRAHAM’s building contract. The contract value has not been disclosed. The commission is confined to the first tower, which has planning consent, while the developers continue preparing applications for other plots within the larger scheme.
Davos Property Developments and Beetham Davos are bringing forward the project. Brock Carmichael Architects designed No.1 Kings, which received planning permission in February 2026. Metropolitan Demolition has completed clearance of the plot at the northern end of the eight-acre development area, allowing the project team to move towards contractor mobilisation ahead of the expected mid-2027 construction start.
The consented building provides 127 one-bedroom, 123 two-bedroom, and five three-bedroom apartments. Retail accommodation will occupy the ground floor, with shared residents’ facilities on the first floor and rooftop social spaces. The arrangement combines residential accommodation and common areas within one tower, requiring the detailed design to coordinate separate public, resident, servicing, and operational access needs. Structural and building-services specifications have not yet been made public.
Hugh Frost, chairman of Beetham Davos, said the first tower is fully funded by the development shareholders. He also connected its delivery with discussions about future occupiers of the remaining Kings plots. Funding for No.1 Kings and the planning position of the later buildings therefore sit at different stages, with the first phase providing an agreed route into construction while broader commercial and design work continues.
Nine buildings feature in the wider Kings proposal, reaching a possible 70 storeys at a hotel and residential centrepiece. That tower is subject to a separate planning application. The development team expects to submit a hybrid application for subsequent phases in early 2027, combining detailed proposals for certain elements with outline parameters for others. The £1.2bn masterplan value refers to that broader vision, not the approved first tower.
The remaining site is proposed to contain homes, hotel and leisure uses, offices, and new public realm. Brock Carmichael leads the masterplan, SimpsonHaugh is working on the proposed tallest building, and Pegasus Group is advising on planning, heritage, economics, and environmental assessment. Planit is responsible for public realm design, with WSP advising on highways. These wider commissions will inform how later phases connect to the first completed building.
A tower built ahead of neighbouring blocks will need its own functioning access, servicing, and residential circulation arrangements while other plots remain available for future construction. Deliveries, temporary site boundaries, and construction routes will have to be coordinated with pedestrian and vehicle movements around the site. The developers have not released a detailed logistics plan identifying crane locations or the sequence of work across the remaining plots.
Peter Reavey, GRAHAM’s regional director, said the contractor was mobilising to meet the client’s timetable. Its immediate task is to prepare the approved tower for construction on a cleared parcel of land. The larger nine-building development remains a separate programme of planning, commercial discussions, and potential construction awards, with No.1 Kings forming the initial delivery package.
The waterfront site sits between Liverpool’s existing business district and the wider Liverpool Waters regeneration area. Later commercial and hospitality elements will influence the site’s completed mix of uses, while the first phase will establish residential occupation on part of the development land. The hybrid application is expected to define more of the buildings, open space, and connections needed to integrate those phases.
With substantial works forecast to begin around mid-2027, GRAHAM and the design team have a period for technical coordination, mobilisation, and construction preparation. Site clearance is complete and the consented layout is known, although a completion date and detailed construction methods have yet to be disclosed. The development team also has to prepare the wider hybrid application planned for early 2027.
GRAHAM’s appointment establishes a main contractor for the first of nine proposed buildings at Kings. The next measurable steps are mobilisation and the start of work on No.1 Kings, followed by further planning decisions for the remainder of the site. Those decisions will determine the sequence and scale of construction beyond the 255-home tower.
