JS+P delivers Milliners Yard, Liverpool, with a design inspired by fabric and a nostalgic retail reference.

Milliners Yard comprises a purpose-built, 11-storey BTR development by Columbia Threadneedle Investments.

Featuring 258 modern apartments, the scheme, on London Road in Liverpool, sits at the heart of the city’s historic Fabric District. The area was once a bustling centre for millinery and textile warehouses and is now undergoing major regeneration, with the ambition to become a vibrant new cultural quarter.

Milliners Yard will play a key role in the revival of this iconic district, bridging its rich industrial past with industrial living.

Design studio, Jasper Sanders + Partners, has been involved with Milliners Yard since 2022, having been appointed by Columbia Threadneedle Investments to shape the project’s interior architecture within a building by delivery architects Brock Carmichael.

Drawing inspiration from the Fabric District’s heritage, the studio developed a design concept that pays homage to this connection, which not only influenced the narrative but played a central role in the naming and brand identity of the scheme, developed in collaboration with Leeds-based branding agency Society Studios.

Jasper Sanders + Partners was responsible for designing Milliners Yard’s premium ground-floor residents’ lounge, alongside all public and linking spaces, including the fitness suite, communal areas, and apartment circulation corridors. The procurement and fit-out of the one- and two-bedroom apartments was led by operator Allsop, whilst Jasper Sanders + Partners focused on designing a cohesive and holistic experience through the building. The studio’s sensitive approach to key circulation routes ensures a seamless and intuitive journey for residents.

From the project’s inception, Jasper Sanders + Partners' creative director, Rebecca Finney, drew on her personal memories of the area, which informed both the interior language and key details within the scheme.

“As a child growing up in the North West, I often visited Liverpool with my Nan, exploring the many department stores in the city. I vividly remember the bold red signage of TJ Hughes and its distinctive egg-crate ceilings - true hallmarks of nineties retail design. That ceiling detail has been reinterpreted throughout the amenity as a subtle nod to gridded textile structures, and in doing so there is a subliminal connection to the adjacent building interiors, with the TJ Hughes building – now being refurbished and restored - visible through the ground floor glazed façade, creating a tactile link between memory, place, and design.”

This quirky detail - 'bringing egg-crate ceilings back' - as Jasper Sanders - founder of JS+P put it, was brought to life by Material Source Studio Partner, SAS International.

The general palette adopts a refined, monochromatic aesthetic, centred around a desaturated dark red hue as a deliberate nod to the adjacent TJ Hughes department store and the wider architectural language of the Fabric District. Warm, rich tones are used throughout the interior to reflect the area’s materiality.

This design approach not only roots the development firmly within its urban context but establishes a seamless visual and thematic connection to the surrounding façades, many of which are clearly framed and celebrated through views from the residents’ lounge.

Though a modest floorplate, the opportunity for activation is abundant here. According to studio founder, Jasper Sanders, the design aimed to accommodate a variety of everyday activities including ‘waiting, working, lounging and perching’, creating a versatile amenity that reflects the rhythm of modern urban life.

“The design approach merges the district’s storied past with a sophisticated, contemporary aesthetic and seeks to strike a perfect balance between comfort, style, and functionality”, Rebecca Finney, creative director, Jasper Sanders + Partners commented, adding that the design ambition was to “create a dynamic and purposeful environment, composed of carefully curated settings that flow through interconnected zones’”.

A complementary combination of products and materials has been used in the scheme. From a duo of Farrow & Ball paint colours used to welcome residents – London Clay and Drop Cloth - to a deep burgundy tile with a subtle surface texture from Mosa's Global Collection, used throughout the ground floor amenity, with a paler grout by Kerkakoll to underline the scheme’s prevailing grid pattern.

Use of grids includes not only the flooring tiling but the off-grey ceiling and, in some instances, the lighting - or the choice of fabrics. Smaller, carpeted areas all feature the brown Tessera Teviot carpet tile by Forbo - a Material Source Studio Partner.

The reception desk, located immediately to the left on entrance into the residents’ lounge, is a modular desk system by Isomi in smooth concrete. An angled book and magazine display shelf sits to the left, whilst a cream Mosa tile with a contrasting dark grout is repeated in a grid pattern on the back wall. A recessed light fitting sits above the space as a single iteration of the grid motif, with the same fitting used again for the quiet pod area later in the space.

A central coffee bar anchors the residents’ lounge, with an assortment of zones set around it for socialising, collaboration, and relaxing, defining its periphery.

Branding agency, Society Studios, was the graphics partner of JS+P for this project, and developed the conceptual framework for the graphic language throughout the building. This extended to wayfinding, signage, environmental graphics, and branded moments of punctuation.

The visual identity incorporates linear lines as central motifs, evoking the notion of weaving. These elements reinforce a sense of flow and continuity within the interiors, creating an intuitive and connected experience which is enriched with visual appeal and complements the interior palette.

The glazing running alongside the lounge areas, for example, features a bespoke manifestation of short rhythmic vertical lines of varying widths, which were added individually, with the scheme’s main buttonhole cross-stitch icon repeated across the top. This icon, conceived of by the Jasper Sanders + Partners team and further developed by Society Studios, has also been extended by operator Allsop for use across a number of brand extension items, from phone covers and tote bags to coffee cups.

Lighting plays a key role within the scheme, with a snaking, curved light from UR-EKA that runs the whole length of the banquette below. In pronounced contrast to the scheme’s strict geometries and grids, the light is a fluid ‘loose thread’, made of two separate 12m lengths. The curvature of the fitting was carefully curated on site to create a dynamic form that snakes and twists, offering a striking visual feature within the space.

“We are delighted with the outcome of Milliners Yard”, said Jasper Sanders, founder and director of Jasper Sanders + Partners. “The scheme is a vibrant and distinctive addition to Liverpool’s residential landscape, with its success a testament to the strength of our collaboration with Society Studios and our ongoing partnership with Allsop, both instrumental in helping shape a cohesive and impactful interior that reflects the identity and ambition of this development in an iconic district of Liverpool.”