News··2 min read·In the press
Legacie looks further afield to build on Liverpool ‘dominance’
"We are a North West developer that happens to be based in Liverpool" — Gavin Currie talks to Place North West about what comes after dominance at home.
Legacie became the biggest fish in Liverpool’s development pond during a difficult period for the city. While determined not to forget its roots, now is the time for the firm to look for larger pools to swim in, according to managing director Gavin Currie.
“We are a North West developer that happens to be based in Liverpool,” Currie told Place North West in his office at Legacie’s Great George Street headquarters.
Some 15 out of the 18 developments listed on Legacie’s website are in Liverpool – two are in Salford and one in Luton – a fact that contradicts Currie’s assertion. However, over the coming years, Currie and chief executive John Morley want to take Legacie to other cities including Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield.
“Like any developer we are opportunity driven,” Currie said. “Our strategy is to diversify into wider markets, into wider locations, but the opportunities do naturally come to us in Liverpool because we are very dominant here.”
Founded in 2016, Legacie has delivered more than £500m worth of projects and thousands of homes to date. Since 2021, when Glasgow-born Currie joined the business, turnover has leapt from £35m a year to £125m.
Much of the growth came about during the pandemic years, which coincided with a very public dressing down for the city council at the hands of government-appointed inspector Max Caller, and saw Legacie snap up stalled sites left right and centre. As developers hit the wall and outside interest in the city dwindled to nothing, Legacie found itself as almost the only show in town. It was survival of the fittest and the developer showed its strength.
Element the Quarter, a failed Primesite development was one of the first schemes Legacie stepped in to save. Another was Heaps Mill, a high-profile site that has been earmarked for redevelopment for what seems like forever. Legacie acquired it and has since secured £60m of backing from the Merseyside Pension Fund to redevelop it.
“That’s a very prominent site in a very prominent location, and an historic listed building. We are the guys that made that happen,” Currie said.
