In Conversation : Stuart Barnes

Lord Street Living: Stuart Barnes on Turning Old Buildings into Vibrant Homes

We sat down with Stuart Barnes, Assistant Director (Place) at Sefton Council, to discuss the Lord Street Living project and the transformational potential hiding in plain sight above our town centre shops.

Stuart, in your role, you've seen a number of Lord Street's upper floors. What do they look like? Can they really be re-used as apartments? 

I have been inside a number of the upper floors on Lord St over the years and believe the potential is huge. No two buildings are identical, and it follows that the internal configurations are equally unique. This gives a real depth of variety of internal spaces, many interesting original architectural features reflecting the respective buildings’ histories. High floor to ceiling heights and feature windows providing a focus with light and aspect over Lord Street are key consistent characteristics.

Town centre living is a more attractive proposition these days. The views of Lord Street are unrivalled. You are living amongst the hustle and bustle, the lights, that magnificent tree lined boulevard, the listed verandas but, at the same time, you are in an oasis of your own. Close enough to enjoy the daily activity outside but sufficiently detached to be cocooned in your own space. Who wouldn't want to live in such an attractive historic environment, surrounded by so much space, parks, the beach and fresh air.

Why hasn't town centre living taken off already in Southport?

Sefton Council has recognised the potential of town centre living as a regeneration tool for Lord St for years. But there are complexities of working within a heritage environment, whilst supportive national planning policy,  and the financial tools to make it happen have been slow to materialise. Southport obviously already has housing near the town centre, but it’s character tends to reflect suburban living rather than the type of lifestyle that attracts people who want to be close to facilities, amenities, culture, and reliable public transport.

At the same time, Lord St has been evolving as retailing patterns change from high street to online, leaving the challenge of empty shops and ancillary space above. Towns with universities have seen this challenge being met with increases in apartments for students. We don’t have that currently (although the Burscough Curves discussion could change that longer term) so we need to stimulate demand in different ways. Promoting this as an option for young people or for downsizers to view Lord St as a place for them to live and for developers, investors and landlords to meet this demand are key objectives. Schemes such as the former Art Deco Leo’s Bar, on Nevil St and a number of properties which secured funding through the recent Townscape Heritage Project are now starting to meet that demand and provide useful precedent. We believe we can extend this model further for other parts of Lord St.

What does town centre living actually deliver for Southport?

A modern town centre needs a mix of uses and a varied demographic to thrive. Increasingly, town centres must function 24/7 rather than rely on old retail core hours. The most important element is having significant footfall, with people using the town centre for entertainment, leisure, hospitality, shopping or simply for “promenading” as people used to do in days gone by. For Lord St and Southport to prosper, we need its economy featuring all these things, a positive melting pot of people living, working, using and visiting the town centre.

What challenges has Southport faced that make this urgent?

We've experienced the same threats facing every high street in the country. The retail footprint has retracted, we've lost national high street brands, the banking estate has been eroded whilst we also have the impacts of seasonality atypical of a traditional seaside resort. This has led to increased vacancies on Lord Street, at ground level and in the floors above, which has to some degree created opportunities for an increasing dominance of leisure uses.

We need now to build on the success of the recent Southport Townscape Heritage project which managed to secure investment into properties on the streets connecting Lord Street and the Promenade. With the support of our Conservation Team and targeted grant funding, landlords have restored heritage facades, brought traditional features back and got ground and upper floors occupied again. We need to capitalise on that momentum and work which has helped make the town centre attractive for investment again.

How important is partnership to making this work?

The collaboration between the Council, Southport BID, Heritage Lottery, Historic England, local landlords and businesses has been really effective to date. None of the organisations could make the town centre better by themselves. The success of the Heritage work has shown that a similar partnership approach is required to extend the regeneration effort to the rest of Lord St. We now need Homes England and the Combined Authority’s support to deliver this too. There is no magic bullet so a clear strategy, hard work, patience and the right resources are needed.

How many apartments could be provided above Lord Street?

A couple of years ago, we commissioned a study on the vacant and under-utilised capacity above the retail units on Lord St's west side. It demonstrated that over around 350 units could be created from those upper floors. There's a further review planned for the areas to the rear, West Street, Stanley Street and so on, which we think will more than double that initial number. So the potential is huge. We could be talking about a further 1,000 people using the town centre every day and living here rather than just visiting for a few hours occasionally.

What has been holding back conversion?

The fractured ownership and complex lease interests along the entire length have taken some time to unravel Because of the historic character of Southport, technical challenges over conservation, creating street level access, and securing service and delivery have all posed issues to be addressed. Meanwhile, strict planning policy around amenity standards, at times, made it difficult to convert upper floors of existing town centre buildings to residential use. However, whilst we haven't lowered our expectations for quality living environments, in recent years we've adapted these standards with regard to upper floors in town centres and heritage buildings in particular. Councillors have recognised the opportunities in places like Lord Street and adjusted the design standards accordingly. As demand increases, we are seeing more developers prepared to meet those standards now.

How does Lord Street Living work as a project?

It's a true partnership where all parties seek to facilitate the conversion of these upper floors. We have had a number of recent conversions that serve as models of precedent, demonstrating demand, and that working together on the technical complexities, these difficulties can be overcome whilst delivering the right quality of conversion standards. We have created a website www.lordstreetliving.org that acts as a promotional tool, a repository for information/guidance, and a resource for investors looking for opportunities and landlords who wish to market their properties. The more we deliver, the greater the precedent, and the more we all learn about the wonderful heritage and how it may be repurposed to meet future housing demands. The Council’s planning, heritage, regeneration and housing teams are all firmly behind this initiative.

What wider strategic support is needed?

As a Council, we talk regularly to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England, and Historic England. Patrick Hurley MP is also pushing the importance of Lord St, and the BID has been very supportive, particularly so given their close relationship with many of the commercial landlords. My Conservation Team have led on this concept for many years, with my full endorsement. As a planning professional and a local, I am incredibly proud and appreciative of the aesthetic beauty of Lord Street's facades and upper floors. I would love to see those empty rooms and spaces, cluttered windows and darkened rooms replaced with vibrant, illuminated, occupied residential accommodation. That is what I believe Lord St now needs for the next stage of its life.

How realistic is the plan?

It's clearly a complex issue to crack, but there can be few programmes as stimulating, rewarding and impactful. Southport needs a programme like this, it's good for the soul! With the right support, we will achieve the change the town centre needs. But we need everyone to be behind this to make it a reality.

With other major projects underway, how does this all come together?

After a difficult period, Southport is experiencing real progress on multiple fronts. Work is continuing apace on the Marine Lake Events Centre, confirmation of £20m Government funding for the refurbishment of the Pier and the transformation of Town Hall Gardens. With a new town centre-focused events programme to complement the existing major events, and many other private sector and equally exciting projects progressing, Southport is going to be an even better place to live, work and visit.

The upper floors of Lord Street aren't just unused space, they are homes waiting to happen, overlooking one of the country's finest boulevards. Getting this right won't just fill buildings; it'll help define what Southport becomes over the next decades. That is worth the hard work.

• The Your Southport platform is provided by Southport BID and showcases the very best of Southport town centre.
• For Southport BID, this conversation reinforced the critical importance of Lord Street Living to our town centre's future and the need to act in partnership to deliver the change we know we need.
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