Liverpool firm EW Developments has started construction on a major £3.5 million redevelopment of Jamaica House in Toxteth.
Jamaica House – on Upper Parliament Street, which has been left derelict and abandoned but was originally a key part of the Liverpool 8 community – will be transformed into 25 luxury apartments.
Opened by Leonard Airborne in the 1970s, Jamaica House become a thriving nightclub venue in L8. In 1981, the original outbreak of the Toxteth Riots began on Upper Parliament Street, metres from Jamaica House.
In 1983, two years after the Riots, Jamaica House featured as the BBC screened a special investigation into the Liverpool night-clubbing scene, as some clubs were said to have discriminate entrance policies towards Black people. Jamaica House, however, remained a sanctuary for party-goers and musicians of all ethnicities.
The location eventually become a hotel and has been left abandoned and boarded up for over 15 years. EW Developments will transform Jamaica House into 25 luxury apartments, with car parking facilities and private access for residents. Liverpool firms R&R Design and M-Tech Electrical have led on the architectural and M&E packages respectively.
EW converted the Our Lady of Good Help Church in Wavetree into 16 luxury apartments earlier in 2023 following their 2019 renovation of an abandoned Victorian building into the hugely successful Phoenix Hotel in Kirkdale.
EW Developments co-founder James Winters, who runs the business alongside architect Rob Edwards, said: “This is an iconic building in Liverpool history and EW Developments are proud to play a part in restoring it with a luxury finish.
“Jamaica House is in a prime location for access to Liverpool City Centre and we believe this redevelopment can help breathe new life into both the building and Toxteth community as a whole.
“All of our sites are delivered with a luxurious finish and Jamaica House will be no different. I am so excited to work on this building, with so many memories for so many people, and bring a modern site to the forefront of L8.”
