Post & Echo Building

The Post & Echo Building is located at 95 Old Hall Street in Liverpool city centre, England, and formerly housed the headquarters of the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post newspapers. It is also known as Metropolitan House and as City Tower.[1] It is an international style-style building that stands 73 metres (240 ft) tall with 18 storeys, making it the joint-tenth-tallest building in the city.[2]

Post & Echo Building
The Post & Echo Building is easily distinguishable amongst the Liverpool skyline
Post & Echo Building
Location within Merseyside
General information
Architectural styleInternational style
AddressOld Hall Street, Liverpool
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates53.4096°N 2.9954°W / 53.4096; -2.9954
Completed1974

History

The building, which was designed in the international style, was completed in 1974. The Liverpool Echo and Daily Post were produced, printed and distributed on site with the upper half of the building being used as office space and the lower parts housing the newspapers' printing rooms and distribution centre.[3] In 2008, Trinity Mirror Publishing announced that they were ceasing printing of the papers on site and this would move to a site in Oldham.[4]

The Liverpool Daily Post closed in December 2013 leaving the Echo the only paper being produced there.[5] The Echo moved out of the building in March 2018 to newer offices on Old Hall Street in St Paul's Square.[3]

The building was also used as the headquarters of Merseyside County Council from completion of the building until the abolition of the county council in 1986.[6] However the full county council would meet at Liverpool Town Hall.[7]

Work started in 2019 to expand the usage of the building from offices to also include additional retail units and a 207-bed hotel with sky bar.[8] Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe announced in August 2018 that they were planning to move 500 staff into the building from their previous site in Wavertree Technology Park.[9]

Using river water to heat and cool the building

The building was constructed simultaneously with New Hall Place. Both buildings used river water that was at a year round constant temperature of 13C that seeped into the Mersey railway tunnel to heat and cool the buildings, greatly reducing fossil fuel consumption.[10]

References
  1. Post & Echo Building at Emporis
  2. Post & Echo Building statistics at Skyscrapernews.com
  3. Houghton, Alistair (14 December 2017). "ECHO to move to new home in Liverpool city centre opposite current office". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  4. "ECHO editor: Why we've moved printing out of Liverpool". Liverpool Echo. 6 September 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  5. "After 158 years, the Liverpool Post closes". National Union of Journalists. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  6. Whitaker's Almanack 1982, p. 628
  7. Evans, Andrew (13 August 1992). "End of the metropolitan line: County councils face an uncertain future". The Independent. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  8. Houghton, Alistair (17 January 2018). "Former Liverpool ECHO building is set to become hotel". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  9. Houghton, Alistair (12 August 2019). "Sony moving hundreds of video games staff into former ECHO building". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  10. "Liverpool Daily Post & Echo (1973) / Royal Insurance HQ (1976)" (PDF).
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