Legacie looks further afield to build on Liverpool ‘dominance’
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.
Heaps Mill, Liverpool (under construction)
One stalled site that evaded Legacie is located a stone’s throw from the developer’s office. New Chinatown, a mixed-use scheme with the potential to transform Great George Street, was acquired out of administration by Liverpool City Council late last year. A few years ago, it would probably have been Legacie that bought it. But Liverpool is a different place now.
The city council has made a concerted effort over recent years to repair the reputational damage it suffered as a result of the Caller report and Operation Aloft – a Merseyside Police investigation into corruption within the local authority.
While sentiment in the city has improved, Currie is still waiting to see the results.
“I’m mindful of the fact that council has been through a lot of change. There’s a lot of new people and I am hopeful they are going to actually work with us.”
Currie’s stance is not an uncommon one in Liverpool; many in the city’s development community are still waiting for their concerns and frustrations to be allayed, something the city council is well-aware of. Despite hard-to-shake legacy issues, there is evidence that things are looking up from an investment and development perspective.
The authority’s active approach to tackling the city’s scourge of stalled sites – as evidenced by the Great George Street deal – a high level of interest from developers in the 1,500-home Festival Gardens opportunity, and investment from the likes of Davos Property, Blacklight Capital, Packaged Living, and Beetham Group, suggest the situation is substantially better than a few years ago.
This improvement in perceptions will see more developers look to Liverpool and threatens to eat into Legacie’s Liverpool dominance. Currie is not concerned.
“I am not fearful of other entrants coming in and nor should I be. I don’t believe there’s any weakness in the business. In Liverpool, we certainly are the most dominant developer. There are 11 tower cranes [in the city] and eight of them are ours. We are best placed to pick up any developments, because everybody in Liverpool knows us.”
The smart money is on Legacie making a success of its plans to replicate the triumphs it has enjoyed in Liverpool elsewhere. Viability is tight across England’s regional cities but especially in Liverpool, where values are lower than the cities Currie has his sights on. If you can make it in Liverpool, there is no reason that success cannot be replicated elsewhere.
A powerful weapon in Legacie’s armoury as it embarks on the next phase of growth is its in-house construction division – a model shared by other dominant North West developers Renaker and Salboy – which means the company is more self-sufficient than the majority of its rivals.
Embankment Exchange, Manchester (under construction)
While striving for bigger and better, Currie is clear that Legacie will not forget its roots.
The business employs around 150 people overall, most of them local. Since 2016, the developer has supported 50 prison leavers through its Second Chance scheme and donates to Liverpool charities including the LFC Foundation, Alder Hey Hospital, and The Inclusive hub through its foundation.
“We don’t need to do anything the community but the business does care,” he said. “We spend a lot of time and money [on charitable endeavours] not because we have to, because we want to.”
The coming years will see the business try to crack other markets as it outgrows its home patch and bids to become what it believes it already is: a North West developer whose offices just happen to be in Liverpool.
“The reality is we’re a big fish in a small pond in Liverpool,” Currie said. “Liverpool is a city of a certain size, I think it’d be folly to look for more growth out of more market dominance.”
Above article written by Dan Whelan at Place North West.
Link to article: Legacie looks further afield to build on Liverpool ‘dominance’ - Place North West