Egerton House, originally known locally as the Interchange Warehouse, stands on the south quay of Egerton Dock and is the only original building remaining on the dockside. The Egerton name comes from a prominent Chester MP of the 19th century by the name of Sir Philip de Malpas-Grey Egerton. The building was constructed and opened in 1874 as an important warehouse linking sea-going freight services with the LNWR and Great Western Railways.

Over the years it stored a wide variety of produce but it was the involvement Egerton House in the West Indies banana trade that gave rise to its local name of the "Banana Warehouse". Throughout the early 1900s the warehouse was fully utilised and the busy docklands and marine related engineering sector was very much the driving force behind Wirral's economy.

Twelve Quays - 1874
After the Second World War, dock trade gradually declined as more modern options became available. Egerton Dock eventually fell into decline and was used extensively for mooring disused vessels. And during this time the Interchange Warehouse similarly fell into disrepair. In the late 1980s the Interchange Warehouse site became earmarked for redevelopment by the Merseyside Development Corporation, this was part of the Twelve Quays regeneration master plan encompassing much of the Birkenhead Dock system and surrounding land.


Twelve Quays - Today

It appeared that the Interchange Warehouse might be demolished but this was avoided when the local training and enterprise Council, CEWTEC, agreed with Mersey Docks and Harbour Company to repair and extend the building and fully refurbish it as a flag ship business centre.

By 1994 the building, now renamed Egerton House, was refurbished and substantially adapted to create the modern high quality business centre that exists today. This was an ambitious and visionary project and involved the preservation of much of the original structure including the vaulted ceilings and impressive iron colonnades.

Docks History 1

Laying the Foundation Stone of Birkenhead Docks

Ships' Passenger Information

Merseyside Maritime Museum. >>