How did a dream retirement at one of Liverpool’s grandest addresses become a nightmare?

Jane moved into her warehouse conversion seven years ago with dreams of living out her days in loft-style luxury. The apartment – one of 115 in The Colonnades – was completed in 1988 as part of the Albert Dock regeneration. Sunlight sparkles off the wake of a ferry as it bobs below her balcony towards the Wirral. 

Jane’s retirement home, all post-industrial chic, bare bricks, and vaulted ceilings, appears perfect.

“I hate it here,” she says. “Living in a gilded cage.”

Her honesty cuts through my envy. She tells me how wonderful it was in the beginning - before disputes over electricity bills and a maintenance project, and complaints over corporate transparency. The issues have soured Jane’s days in the Colonnades and created mistrust and suspicion between neighbours, she says.

Like many of her fellow Colonnaders, Jane has agreed to speak with us on the condition we change names. The files they all share – reams of correspondence, invoices, and spreadsheets – detail how increasingly expensive their building has become over the last seven years. Buying into this 180-year-old Grade-1 listed Victorian warehouse has come with an unpredictable financial burden – and a service charge that has ballooned 125% since 2020.

To this journalist on work experience at ITV’s This Morning in the ’90s , an apartment in the newly renovated Albert Dock seemed like the ultimate in aspirational urban living. The list of past residents includes Liverpool legends, local millionaires, and pop stars. You could share the lift with Sporty Spice one day and see Robbie Fowler putting his bins out the next.

But 40 years have passed since the dock’s regeneration and to run The Colonnades today is a costly affair that involves a myriad of companies and contractors. Buying a flat here means taking on those financial responsibilities that sit on the other side of your apartment door.

When Mike downsized to move into The Colonnades in 2020, he cashed in some of his pension pot to buy the spacious apartment. He flips open a meticulously indexed ring binder and slides his invoice for this year’s service charge across the polished wood table - £20,400. 

“If it stays at this level, that’s £100,000 over the next five years on top of my day-to-day expenses,” sighs Mike as he silently runs a finger over a spreadsheet to next year’s grand total - £1.35 million.