Edge Lane building to become schools

Two local schools have been given government approval to relocate to Liverpool’s iconic old Littlewoods building on Edge Lane, as part of a £335m transformation for Liverpool schools.

City-centre based Archbishop Blanch and Sefton Park’s St. Hildas, both Church of England secondary’s, are expected to co-locate and make the move into the building by 2014.

Some concerns have been raised over the intended location for the new schools amid criticisms that it will be too difficult to access and that it will cause even more congestion problems on Edge Lane, already one of the busiest roads in Liverpool.

The Government backing means Liverpool City Council is expected to go ahead with the controversial relocation as part of its overall ‘Building Schools for the Future’ project. It will include the transformation of 24 schools being built or rebuilt by 2017, in what is expected to be the biggest overhaul of schools in one city ever in Britain.

The multi-million pound scheme is part of the council’s “21st century education” plan for all youngsters. Liverpool City Council’s executive director for children services, Stuart Smith said: “Liverpool’s future prosperity rests on the shoulders of our young people. It’s vital we provide them with first class 21st century education facilities, which help them develop as confident, skilled, job-ready individuals.”

The facilities at Edge Lane are expected to follow a similar vein to that of the plans proposed last year, with the building becoming the home to hi-tech ‘science schools’ which will be shared with over 40 local businesses and the community.

Designers and Architects have been told to rip up the rule book and create 24 cutting edge schools, with some of the designs being built around individual schools specialism’s and double as community “centres of excellence”.

The first of the schools to benefit will be Archbishop Beck, in Walton which will move to a £25m building in Aintree. The new state of the art facility will reflect the schools sports prowess with a climbing wall, a 1,000 seat sports theatre and an Olympic standard basketball arena all set to be built there.

The Edge Lane building has been subject to much speculation in recent times regarding various regeneration projects, however with this scheme having received Government permission to go ahead it seems as though the council are committed to getting proceedings started at the old Littlewoods headquarters.

Mr Stuart Smith added: “It’s vital that we fully capitalise on this fantastic opportunity, and we believe that the proposals we have put in place will help us achieve just that. We are committed to making sure everyone is on-board with these exciting plans and we will be consulting fully with schools and the wider community."