The Harcourt Developments-linked company that is redeveloping Stanley Dock in Liverpool to incorporate a new Titanic Hotel has attracted some heavy hitters from the world of sport to help fund the £35 million project.

Although originally touted as a Harcourt development, the company told a local Liverpool paper it was not in control of the project when it was asked about an alleged recent row involving subcontractors. It declined to comment when asked by One More Thing .

The project is being developed by Cypriot-owned Stanley Dock Properties, which once included Harcourt chairman Pat Doherty among its directors. Pat Power and Gerry Comaskey, senior Harcourt executives, still sit on its board.

Tax breaks
Much of the funding for the project, however, appears to have been provided by a tax break-driven limited liability partnership (LLP) called Stanley Dock (All Suite) Regeneration.

The LLP has more than 180 members. A trawl of its documents reveals that prominent among them is Rory McIlroy, the Co Down-born former world number one golfer. His golfing compatriot Graeme McDowell, a former US Open champion, is also an investor in Stanley Dock.

Other notable investors are Stiliyan Petrov, the former Aston Villa football club captain who retired from the game a year ago after contracting leukaemia; and Robert Earnshaw, the journeyman Welsh football international who now plays for Blackpool.

The website for the new Titanic Liverpool hotel, due to open this summer, trumpets that its “epic” bedrooms will be twice as big as standard. Just like the egos of half the city’s denizens, once this football season is finished.