AN apartment block under construction has gone up in flames with more than 70 fire fighters battling to contain the blaze overnight.

The 16th floor of the luxury apartment block at Shepard St in Liverpool caught fire about 8.30pm last night.
 

The building was unoccupied and there were no injuries reported.

A NSW Fire spokesman said crews were working to contain the blaze.

"It is contained to the construction part of the building at this stage between floors 14 and 16," he said.

"Thankfully no one was inside because the building has not been finished yet.

"There are a lot of people on the scene."

Fire crews were having trouble getting water to apartment because piping had not yet been installed.

The fire rapidly spread to ajoining levels. Picture: Steve Harris

Liverpool resident Hannah Freeman told Nine News she witnessed crews struggling to find a water source.

"The smoke is actually not so bad, the blaze itself is intense by the looks of it," she said.

"The flames themselves appear to be quite large. Fire, police and ambulance crews have been heading in that direction for a good hour and a half and it appears that water simply is not able to reach the building."