CITY leaders are in talks which could pave the way for the country’s leading architectural institute to have its northern headquarters in Liverpool.

If the plan is approved, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) could make Liverpool home to some of its prized library collection of four million artefacts which are currently housed at its base in London.

Council regeneration cabinet member Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, who is due to join RIBA in attending a major international architectural conference in Chicago later this month, said he believed Liverpool would be an ideal location for the new centre.

The city has around 2,500 Grade I and II listed buildings.

A briefing note ahead of Cllr Kennedy’s Chicago visit reads: “The RIBA is developing an exciting vision for the future of the library to conserve, develop and share this world-leading resource of over four million architectural drawings, books, photographs and models which will form the basis of a major capital fundraising campaign.

“The new centre in Liverpool offers a real potential for wider access to the library.”

The bid is currently going through a “proof of concept” feasibility study, and if successful, the new premises could be located on the waterfront near to the Albert Dock.