Modern student living in Liverpool
St Luke’s View
Liverpool
Architecture, Digital Construction
St Luke’s View is a 776-bed student residential building adjacent to a conservation area in Liverpool city centre. Main contractor Bowmer and Kirkland completed the construction of the building in just over 18 months. The building, which replaces a former multi-storey car park, is bounded by two key conservation areas in Liverpool.
“I am very impressed with the Rio offering and am confident I can throw any scheme your way and it will be a success. ”
Michael Brockway
Project Manager, UNITE Students
The building includes significant communal spaces for students, including a cinema, games area, and quiet study spaces with exposed concrete soffits and services distribution routes. The ground floor communal space enhances the student experience with sliding folding doors connecting the central courtyard to interior spaces.
Constrained by the site’s footprint, the building’s design evolved into a 10-storey perimeter with stepped blocks to the perimeter and a central courtyard.
The choice of materials varied for each elevation and were thoughtfully selected to compliment the architecture of the surrounding conservation areas and underwent close scrutiny by planning authorities. The façade includes significant articulation, including deep window reveals and successive step backs towards the top of the building, reducing its overall mass and scale.
The superstructure combines an in-situ concrete transfer slab at the base and a lightweight loadbearing steel frame for internal partitions up to the roof. This construction method enhanced the project programme delivering a new floor every four weeks.
“Rio were the lead designers on this large £35m project in Liverpool. Design solutions were always practical and were always with the client’s best interests in mind. Rio were great at facilitating and coordinating a difficult planning sign off process and helped resolve party wall issues. Very professional and a pleasure to work with, I look forward to working with them again in the future.”
Andy Levy
Project Manager, Tower 8
