RESIDENTS moving into the Stanley Dock Tobacco warehouse development on Liverpool’s waterfront could have an unusual set of neighbours – bats.

Plans to finally redevelop Liverpool’s Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse are set to be approved by Liverpool council next week.

Conditions attached to the approval will state that an accommodation be made for pipistrelle bats that currently live on the site.

Special tubes will be installed to allow the bats to live inside four lift shafts once the warehouse is refurbished.

A roost of peregrine falcons on the building will also have to be protected.

Landing planning permission next week will be the first step towards starting to secure the future of the Grade II-listed building which has been derelict for 50 years.

Last month, the area was awarded £25m from the Government’s regional growth fund that will help pay for the regeneration of this key site.

Irish-based Harcourt Developments has revised plans for the site that were approved in 2008.

It has reduced the number of apartments from 634 to 335 and converted them into so-called “live/work” units.

They will also be larger, with an average size of 1,300 sq ft, and will each have a double-height space with a mezzanine floor, due to the small space between floors in the warehouse.

Office space has increased fivefold to 44,000 sq ft and there will also be shops, restaurants and bars included.