429 homes in Liverpool and a 29-storey tower in Glasgow are returned to drawing board

Two schemes involving City Lofts, the developer specialising in city centre flats, are to be sent back to planning, as the fall-out from the 2007 credit crunch continues.

The 429-home Kings Waterfront scheme in Liverpool is to be re-planned after concerns that the original scheme would no longer stack up financially.

The homes were to be part of a 1,800-unit project near the Kings Dock arena, where Liverpool launched its Capital of Culture celebrations this year.

City Lofts and David McLean Homes are likely to submit an application with fewer units because of concerns that the current permission will not cover the revised design, according to English Partnerships (EP), the site’s previous owner.

Eliot Lewis-Ward, EP’s area manager for Merseyside and Cheshire, said: “They want to bring forward a scheme that meets our needs and theirs. The implication from them is it’ll need fresh planning permission.”

Lewis-Ward said once it was back on track EP would insist the developers built the original number of units planned. The developers signed a fixed-price deal with EP a year ago.

In addition, plans for Scotland’s tallest tower in Glasgow have been delayed while City Lofts and developer partner Elphinstone seek new planning consent.

Ken Ross, chairman and chief executive of Elphinstone, denied industry rumours that the move was related to the credit crunch. He said the decision was caused by complications with regulations rather than funding.

Ross said the Building Regulations had changed since Glasgow council granted permission for the 39-storey Elphinstone Place tower in 2004. He said: “We couldn’t now get a warrant for what we have permission for. We have £600m of funds.”

The 134m tower, which is set to cost £120m, will produce 208 flats and 15,886m2 of offices. City Lofts was unable comment.