Most of the buildings in the ‘Office Quarter’ date from the 1960s and the area is dominated by a number of tall buildings, including Merton House

21:31, 29 Jan 2026Updated 21:32, 29 Jan 2026

The skyline in one part of Merseyside is dominated by a series of high-rise tower blocks, built during the 1960s and mostly located in the town’s ‘Office Quarter’. Some of these buildings have been demolished, while still some remain standing empty and abandoned, waiting for a developer with the next big idea.

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For Merton House in Bootle, it appears that spark of inspiration has finally arrived, after plans were approved to completely transform the site, and create more than a hundred new homes for the local area.

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The building on Stanley Road has a long history, and is best-known as a purpose-built nine-storey office space, with records showing it housed departments such as Sefton Council services. While there has been speculation about the demolition of nearby office buildings, such as St John’s House, Merton House itself has been slated for redevelopment into housing.

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According to the latest documents uploaded to Sefton Council’s planning portal, the Merton House development would comprise of 50 two-bed apartments and 90 one-beds. Whether these are to be affordable housing is yet to be confirmed, but it would still constitute a significant addition to Bootle’s housing portfolio.

According to Sefton Council’s 2021 ‘area action plan’ for Bootle, Merton House forms part of the ‘Office Quarter’ and lies directly to the south of Bootle town centre, broadly between Park Street and Balliol Road and centred around Stanley, Merton, St. Albans, Trinity and Balliol Roads.

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Most of the buildings in the ‘Office Quarter’ date from the 1960s and the area is dominated by a number of tall buildings, including Merton House, Magdalen House, St Anne’s and St Peter’s House. It also contains the more recently built Redgrave Court, which accommodates the Health and Safety Executive, St John’s House and the South Sefton Magistrates’ Court.

In 2023, Sefton’s local authority revealed a draft action plan for Bootle which detailed some key objectives for the future of the town. The document lists 14 key objectives for Bootle focused on improving access to affordable, secure and efficient housing while reducing the amount of poor quality conversions in the town centre.

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Other objectives relate to making best use of vacant land, homes and buildings while protecting and enhancing green spaces, with the aims of making Bootle a healthier place to live.

A council report based on the area plan, outlined a commitment to ensure high standards for new builds, to meet climate change responsibilities and find suitable uses for the town’s heritage buildings. A series of policies were devised for the office quarter, commercial and education quarters, local shopping parades, parks and open spaces, as well as proposals around residential provision and infrastructure.

As part of the action plan, several large office blocks were identified as suitable for redevelopment into other uses, including Merton House and the former HSBC bank building on Stanley Road.

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A planning application to change the use of Merton House on Stanley Road, from an office building into 140 residential apartments was submitted June 3, 2021, and was approved on March 25, 2022 following a recommendation from Sefton Council’s planning committee.

This was followed up with a ‘Prior Approval’ submission in January 2025, which was then approved on June 27, 2025.

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The plans are subject to a S106 agreement between the applicant and owner of Merton House – a company called SLL Properties Limited based in Kirkdale – and Sefton Council, which commits SLL to several obligation. These include giving the local authority five working days notice before the commencement of any development.

The S106 also means SLL are obligated to pay Sefton Council ‘Recreational Pressure Contributions’, a ‘Monitoring Fee’, and to notify the council when each payment is made.