The International Trade Centre is the first phase of Peel’s proposed £4.5bn Wirral Waters scheme.

The developer plans four buildings totalling 2.5m sq ft of space. The first will be around 600,000 sq ft and house hundreds of businesses.

Work to demolish and decontaminate the former Mobil site is expected to start shortly.

Peel said it also aims to start building homes and offices on the site later next year.

The Wirral Waters project is now a designated Enterprise Zone, which will provide tax breaks to attract new businesses.

Peel director Lindsey Ashworth said the idea for the trade centre came from the Shanghai Expo last year, where Liverpool represented the UK and Peel was a sponsor.

Peel has won support from Chinese investor Stella Shiu to help fund construction of the first phase.

Ms Shiu, a member of the Chinese government and chairman of the Sam Wa minerals business, said: “We are already seeing huge interest in China to the idea of coming to the Wirral.”