By 1822 he had developed wider engineering interests, and had set up a steamship company to run between Liverpool and Glasgow.
In 1824, with business partners William Hamilton and John Forsyth, he bought land on the south bank of Wallasey Pool, an inlet of the River Mersey opposite Liverpool, adjoining the small but developing village of Birkenhead.
Initially he intended to build a canal across the Wirral peninsula, but that plan soon foundered.
[1][2] As landowner, Laird commissioned Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham to design an elegant new town close to the shipyard.
His younger son, Macgregor Laird, was a pioneer of trade on the River Niger in Africa.