Liverpool’s £1.2bn ($1.36bn) Kings waterfront masterplan has entered public consultation today, bringing forward an eight-acre proposal north of Pier Head with a 70-storey hotel and residential tower designed by SimpsonHaugh as its most visible element.
The scheme, formerly associated with the King Edward site and now branded as Kings, is being advanced by Davos Property Developments in conjunction with Beetham Davos. It is planned as a mixed-use waterfront district linking Liverpool’s business district, its historic waterfront, and the city’s expanding cruise economy.
The consultation follows earlier planning consent for No. 1 Kings, a 28-storey building at the corner of Waterloo Road and the stopped-up Galton Street. That building has been described as the pathfinder tower for the wider masterplan, which is now moving towards a hybrid planning application.
SimpsonHaugh tower anchors the Kings masterplan
The proposed 70-storey tower would combine a five-star hotel with luxury residences managed by the hotel operator. The hotel is planned across the first 23 floors, with 212 rooms, while the upper levels would contain 563 luxury residences.
The building would provide 924,000ft2 of space, including hotel, residential, amenity and food and beverage uses. It would become the second-largest building in Liverpool by floor area after the Tobacco Warehouse.
At 221.5m, the tower would also rise above the nearby West Tower, which was developed by Beetham in 2007 and stands at 140m. For Liverpool, the proposal would introduce a much taller marker on a waterfront already defined by civic, commercial, and maritime architecture.
The tower’s amenity offer is planned to include bars, restaurants, gymnasiums, banqueting and meeting facilities, and a rooftop terrace. The residential element is expected to cover 409,000ft2, with 24,000ft2 of residential amenities and 32,000ft2 of food-and-beverage space.
Ian Simpson, co-founding partner of SimpsonHaugh, said the tower is intended as a contemporary response to Liverpool’s architectural and maritime character. The practice says the design draws on naval engineering and industrial references, while the façade expression refers to Oriel Chambers, Peter Ellis’s 19th-century metal-framed, glazed curtain-walled building in the city.
Wider Kings plan includes offices, hotels and public realm
The SimpsonHaugh-designed tower is one of ten buildings proposed within the wider Kings masterplan. The hybrid planning application is expected to seek detailed consent for layout and site services, alongside outline consent for individual building plots.
The wider scheme is expected to include residential towers, two hotels, Grade A offices, a new arts venue, shared workspace for start-ups and technology businesses, and a range of food and beverage outlets. This mix gives the project a broader development role than a hotel and residential tower alone.
Brock Carmichael is the masterplan architect for Kings. Pegasus Group is providing planning, economics, heritage, and EIA services, while Planit is leading the public realm design.
The public realm will be central to how the project is judged. A tower of this scale can define the skyline, but the success of the wider masterplan will depend on how the ground level connects with Liverpool’s waterfront, business district and existing pedestrian routes.
Liverpool cruise growth adds demand case for hotel
The development team is also linking the hotel component to Liverpool’s cruise market. Project information cites 135 cruise ships expected to visit Liverpool during the 2026 season, with 350,000 passengers expected to use the cruise terminal this year.
That demand case is expected to grow as the new cruise terminal is completed and the landing stage is extended to accommodate two ships at a time. For Kings, the hotel element is therefore being presented not only as a skyline feature, but as part of the city’s visitor infrastructure.
The consultation now moves the scheme from investor-facing reveal to public scrutiny. For Liverpool, the central question is not only whether the waterfront can absorb a 221.5m tower, but whether Kings can turn a highly visible site into a working mixed-use district that strengthens the city’s connection between business, tourism, public realm, and the Mersey waterfront.
