Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has proposed £22 million of public support towards an £83.6 million revival of the historic Martins Bank building in Liverpool. Announced on Monday 2 November 2026, the Martins Bank funding proposal is due to be considered at the authority’s Friday 6 November meeting. This is a proposed investment decision, not an approved grant or a newly issued planning permission.
The scheme would bring the Grade II* listed Water Street landmark back into use as approximately 140,000 square feet of Grade A offices, with flexible workspaces and activity at ground level. Developer Karrev would contribute more than £61.5 million. The Combined Authority says the completed scheme has capacity for up to 743 jobs, but those are projections rather than jobs already created.
There is a separate planning question. The building already has a history of consent for office-led restoration, while further design alterations were submitted to Liverpool City Council in October. The latest planning and listed building submissions must be decided on their merits. A favourable funding decision on 6 November would not automatically approve those amendments or guarantee that construction starts on the advertised timetable.
What Martins Bank funding would support
The Combined Authority’s 2 November announcement sets out a total project cost of £83.6 million. The proposed public contribution is £22 million, with more than £61.5 million coming from Karrev. Those sums concern the restoration and commercial reuse of an existing landmark, rather than the acquisition of land for a previously unconsented new building.
The Martins Bank funding would be drawn from the Liverpool City Region’s £2 billion Investment Fund, which is intended to use public capital to encourage further private investment. The promoter’s stated aim is to respond to demand for modern city-centre office accommodation, while giving a substantial vacant heritage asset a commercially workable future.
The former bank was designed by architect Herbert Rowse and occupies a prominent position in Liverpool’s commercial district. The authority links the project to wider ambitions for the district, including the Pall Mall development. Yet a regeneration strategy is not itself permission to alter protected fabric, and a funding package cannot replace separate planning and heritage controls.
Public investment still needs a decision
The immediate event is the Combined Authority meeting scheduled for Friday 6 November at 1pm, as shown on its published meeting timetable. The current press release is expressly framed as a proposal. Until members make the relevant decision and the legal funding arrangements are settled, it would be wrong to describe the £22 million as money already paid to the developer.
The 2 November report by Place North West says the proposal will come before the authority after reviews and checks, with Karrev responsible for most of the financing. It also notes a possible early-2027 construction start. That differs from the authority’s expectation of work beginning in late 2026, so neither should be treated as a fixed contractual commencement date.
For anyone following public regeneration spending, the relevant questions extend beyond the headline size of the grant. The Martins Bank funding case should ultimately be judged against the final investment terms, the private contribution, deliverable construction costs, occupancy expectations and measurable public benefits. Those details matter if circumstances change between an in-principle approval and the completion of the works.
What is the planning position?
Martins Bank has not suddenly received fresh consent because a funding announcement has been issued. Earlier office-conversion permissions were reported in 2022. More recently, the developer submitted amendments to Liverpool City Council, with planning and listed building applications recorded in October 2026 under references 26F/2862, 26L/2863 and 26L/2853.
The latest applications cover such matters as external alterations, windows, plant equipment, layouts, fire-safety references and other building details. Publicly indexed planning-register information continued to list the October submissions as pending at the start of November. That is not evidence of refusal or approval. The Martins Bank funding proposal therefore sits alongside, not above, the outstanding statutory decision-making process.
There is a practical distinction between a bank being suitable for office reuse in principle and every detailed intervention being acceptable. Modern ventilation, fire safety, accessibility, workspace arrangements and energy performance may all need to be reconciled with the building’s protected fabric. Some design changes may require both planning permission and listed building consent, depending on their nature.
Why the Grade II* listing matters
Martins Bank is a Grade II* listed building, one of the higher grades of statutory protection in England. The planning system does not require such buildings to remain unused or unchanged, but decisions affecting their special interest must follow the heritage duties in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The project’s claimed economic benefits are relevant without cancelling those obligations.
Planning Geek’s guide to listed buildings explains the protection of architectural and historic interest, while our listed building consent guide explains why that consent is separate from ordinary planning permission. For a project of this scale, internal work can be just as consequential as external changes to windows or plant.
The Martins Bank funding proposal provides a useful example of how conservation and economic reuse can be linked. Investing in repairs, upgrades and tenant-ready office space may help secure a sustainable future, but heritage decisions still require a proper assessment of significance, potential harm and the particular justification for the proposed works.
Jobs, construction and long-term operation
The Combined Authority says the scheme could accommodate up to 743 additional jobs and support around 150 construction jobs, together with apprenticeships and work placements. It anticipates delivery to a BREEAM Excellent environmental standard. Each figure describes a forecast or project objective; none establishes that occupiers are signed up or that the building is already performing to that standard.
Karrev says it intends to fund the development through completion and retain and operate the property as a long-term investment. That is significant because long-term ownership may influence the balance between up-front refurbishment costs and durable maintenance. But the private investment commitment remains part of the promoter’s proposition until the financing and delivery arrangements are completed.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said in the official announcement: The buildings that helped make Liverpool what it is today should be helping shape what it becomes tomorrow.
That sums up the public rationale, though it is the forthcoming funding decision and later project delivery that will determine whether the ambition becomes reality.
What happens next?
The first milestone is Friday’s meeting. If the Combined Authority endorses the investment, the next questions are the conditions of support, the developer’s construction programme and the outcome of the outstanding planning applications. The original announcement forecasts a late-2026 start, while contemporary industry reporting suggests early 2027. Both are provisional, and the project has previously experienced delays.
The Martins Bank funding announcement is a genuine new stage for a major Liverpool heritage project because it attaches a specific £22 million public investment proposal to a defined £83.6 million programme. It is not a planning determination, a final funding agreement or proof of construction. Readers should look next for the actual 6 November decision, completed grant terms and issued council decision notices before drawing stronger conclusions.
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