2025 has been a truly exceptional year for Liverpool Waters. From major regeneration milestones and investment in world-class infrastructure, the good news has continued to flow for Liverpool Waters.

Here’s a wrap up of some of the most exciting milestones from over 2025.

Everton Football Club’s Hill Dickinson Stadium Opens at Liverpool Waters

The year began with one of the biggest milestones achieved since the regeneration of Liverpool Waters began – the opening of the new 52,769 capacity Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Located within Bramley Moore Dock, (which sits within the ‘Northern Docks’ neighbourhood of Liverpool Waters), the spectacular stadium took four years to build with an estimated cost of more than £500million, whilst setting the standard for sustainability, as one of the most environmentally friendly football stadia ever built.

Following a series of successful test events, The Hill Dickinson stadium officially opened in time for the start of the 2025-26 season. Upon opening, it became the eighth largest football stadium in England, and the eleventh largest stadium in Britain.

Since the opening hundreds of thousands of football fans have already visited the impressive stadium. Aside to football, the stadium hosted its first official non-football event this year – The Rugby League Ashes and it has been confirmed as being a stadium location for the Super League’s Magic Weekend in 2026 and a UEFA Euro 2028 host venue with five games slated to take place.

Planning Approved for Great Britain’s First Floating Padel Destination

Following on from the huge success of the UK’s first public floating sauna – Wyld Sauna at Liverpool Waters which also received planning approval this year to build a second floating sauna following its massive popularity, we have seen a surge in innovators and operators wanting to use Liverpool Waters as the location or their floating concepts.

A major announcement that captured international interest was the announcement, followed by planning of the first floating Padel Courts and Clubhouse in Great Britain. The new floating facility places the Liverpool Waters alongside global destinations such as Dubai, Miami and Helsinki, where waterside Padel is already making waves. The development will feature three courts built on state-of-the-art floating platforms and the world’s first floating Padel clubhouse, designed for socialising, fitness and waterfront relaxation.

With planning now approved, construction has started. The courts will be built on a special floating Padel platform from Finland, with the courts themselves manufactured in Spain. Completion and opening are estimated for May 2026.

UK’S FIRST FLOATING PADEL TENNIS COURTS GIVEN GREEN LIGHT AT LIVERPOOL WATERS – Peel Waters

Supporting Future Skills: The City of Liverpool College Construction Academy Opens on Site

Peel Waters have been a long-term partner of the City of Liverpool College, and through this collaboration, a brand-new Construction Academy at Liverpool Waters was opened, which will play a major role in providing construction skills for the city region’s future workforce.

The new campus at Liverpool Waters gives students access to specialist facilities, practical training spaces and modern classrooms that combine hands-on learning with the theory they need to thrive in the industry. Strategically located within the Central Docks neighbourhood at Liverpool Waters, students will train on the site where a major regeneration project for the region is being built. This means real opportunities for apprentices and graduates, real career pathways and a steady pipeline of new talent for an industry facing skills shortages.

Construction Academy at Liverpool Waters welcomes first cohort – Peel Waters

From Foundations to Futures: Work Started on Central Docks, Liverpool Waters

Peel Waters, in partnership with Homes England and Liverpool City Council, proudly marked the official groundbreaking of Central Docks, Liverpool Waters – a pivotal phase in the transformational Liverpool’s northern industrial docklands. Held on-site at Central Docks the ceremony brought together civic leaders, project partners, and over 60 students from the City of Liverpool College, ensuring students have been involved with the construction of Central Docks from day one.

The 26-acre Central Docks neighbourhood is the largest of five neighbourhoods within the emerging wider Liverpool Waters district. Central Docks will include approximately 2,350 new homes including a mix of affordable, elderly, build-to-rent and open market sale. The focal point of the new neighbourhood will be Central Park. The impressive 5-acre park will become one of the inner city’s largest green spaces, with hundreds of new trees, new play areas, sports and recreational facilities as well as providing new walking and cycling routes for residents, visitors and workers in the area.

The groundbreaking event celebrated the beginning of the £71million vital infrastructure works that will pave the way for a vibrant new waterfront community. The £71 million contract awarded to GRAHAM represents the largest portion of the £81.1 million total project cost. This investment will be underpinned by £25.9 million direct investment from Peel Waters, alongside a substantial £55.2 million contribution from Homes England.

From Foundations to Futures: Work starts on Central Docks Liverpool Waters

Construction completed on Lighthaus Liverpool Waters

Rounding off a year of development milestones, in November Liverpool-based contractor and developer Vermont, alongside Peel Waters, X1 Developments, and Starlight Investments, completed construction of the 278-home Lighthaus Build-to-Rent (BTR) development in Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters.

The 31-storey residential development, which offers a mix of studio, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments, includes a sky lounge with panoramic views across Liverpool and the River Mersey, a fitness centre, co-working spaces, 24-hour concierge service, and a residents’ lounge. The development has been designed for modern renting, which is professionally managed with convenient access to the city’s iconic waterfront and attractions.

Beyond delivering much-needed BTR housing for the area, the project also created vocational pathways for local residents during construction, including permanent positions, apprenticeship schemes, and work experience placements through the City of Liverpool Construction Academy.

Construction Completes at Lighthaus Liverpool Waters – Peel Waters

In Addition to Our Development Milestones, Our Businesses Community Continued to Grow

Near-capacity occupancy, refurbishments and a wave of new lettings; 2025 was a brilliant year for our growing number of office occupiers at Princes Dock Liverpool Waters. Leading digital media organisation The Guide who cover the best Liverpool has to offer chose to relocate their office and operations to No.10 Princes Dock to “be in  the thick of the action”, whilst the world’s largest private cruise port operator, Global Ports Holding Ltd (“GPH”) announced they had chosen No.12 Princes Dock, for their first out of London office.  This year we saw success for SME’s also choosing Princes Dock as the location for their businesses with the likes of LRB Law and SME Wealth Management joining the business community.

Business Network

Underpinned by Peel Waters’ investment into enhancing its services and amenities for office workers. A new tenant gym and studio has been installed and opened, seasonal reception activations and giveaways have been introduced and in 2025 we also saw the launch of the Liverpool Waters Business Network. The Business Network brings together businesses from across all the neighbourhoods within Liverpool Waters to network over a free breakfast, receive useful updates from the Peel Waters team and hear from speakers doing transformational work across the district, speakers so far have included Everton Football Club, Global Ports Holding and The City of Liverpool College.

sustainability history

2025 was also the year our offices at Liverpool Waters made sustainability history as No. 8, No. 10, and No. 12 Princes Dock, district were the first commercial office buildings in Liverpool to connect their heating and hot water supply to the multi-million-pound Mersey Heat network and Energy Centre, which means these three Net Zero in operation office buildings are now also benefitting from locally generated heat using water from the nearby Leeds Liverpool Canal.

Mersey Heat Energy Centre Officially Opened!

And We Experienced Year-Round Events!

2025 also brought a packed programme of events to the dock. Spring started with us partnering with the Liverpool BID company to host a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration filled with Guiness and Irish music. Summer saw us partner up again for the ‘Last Day of Summer’ waterfront family festival which brought arts & crafts, water sports, yoga sessions and live music to Princes Dock; whilst we also installed our big summer screen on the dockside for residents, workers and visitors to sit together and take in some of the unmissable moments on TV.

In Autumn, Peel Waters’ Annual Dragon Boat Race, kindly sponsored by Anchor Group Services returned to Liverpool Waters raising over £40,000 for Claire House Children’s Hospice. To round off the year, this winter we partnered with the Liverpool BID once again, to bring their 15ft inflatable elf to Princes Dock whilst running a toy appeal to collect Christmas gifts for children at Alder Hey.

Looking Ahead to 2026

We spoke to Chris Capes, our Development Director for Liverpool Waters on the projects and milestones he’s most looking forward to in 2026.

“2026 will be a pivotal year for Liverpool Waters, I want to ensure we carry on the momentum and pace we have set in 2025.

We will be signing up developers to deliver homes in Central Docks, starting on site as soon as work has completed on the Infrastructure and Park in 2028.

We will work with Global Ports to support the planning of the new Cruise Liner Terminal and hope to have exciting announcements on new hotels.

As change leaders, Liverpool Waters team are also excited to work with Landowners, Mayor Steve Rotherham, Liverpool City Council and HM Government to define the Mayoral Development Zone in North Liverpool. A generational opportunity to shape how people live, work and enjoy this part of the city”.