Liverpool Waters under the microscope at public meetings
THE finer details of multi-billion pound plans to regenerate Liverpool’s rundown northern docklands will come under the microscope today.
Peel Holdings wants to build a series of skyscrapers, creating more than 25,000 jobs and 14,000 apartments, in its £5.5bn Liverpool Waters development.
Tonight, the company is holding the first of two public meetings to answer questions about the huge project, which is going through the process of trying to gain planning permission.
National buildings watchdog English Heritage is currently refusing to support the scheme because of its potential impact on the World Heritage Site.
Peel hope to use tonight’s public meeting and one scheduled for next week to win over potential objectors.
Liverpool Waters covers a 60-hectare site and is divided into five neighbourhoods in a bid to make sure the huge site does not look the same throughout.
The northern area is set aside for a residential community with a new marina and buildings ranging from eight to 15 storeys in height.
Buildings on the dock boundary wall would be eight storeys to enclose the docks with a water sports centre, galleries, cafes and restaurants on the ground floors.
The area would also have a leisure centre, community hall, library, health centre, primary school, shops and a supermarket.
Princes Dock is earmarked for the showpiece building of the entire development – the 55-storey Shanghai Tower.
The tower will have offices on the lower levels, with a hotel in the middle, and apartments above. The top of the building is designed to have a public observation tower.
The dock is already home to a number of buildings including Malmaison and Crowne Plaza hotels.
A series of eight-storey buildings are planned to be built along the eastern side of the dock, and 13-storey buildings on the west side, with restaurants and cafes facing the Mersey.
The King Edward Triangle is planned as an extension of the businesses district, currently centred around Old Hall Street.
“New, grand, tree-lined boulevards and striking landmark towers will seek to reinforce Liverpool as an international business location,” states the masterplan.
The commercial buildings are designed as 13-storey “podiums” with residential buildings towering over them at 30 to 50 storeys in height. The canal link is planned for the banks of the Mersey, with the reinstated Leeds/ Liverpool Canal running through the middle.
Peel said it wants to create a “prestigious tall building cluster, with world- class office and residential space”.
The neighbourhood would also have a new park and a series of leisure uses, such as a cinema and parking buildings.
The Clarence North neighbourhood is designed to have a homely feel, with a “building scale that respects the neighbouring Clarence Graving Docks”, according to the masterplan.
The area would have a number of small “pocket parks” with public spaces that “draw on the layout of the lost historic dock pattern [to] help in anchoring this quarter and create a unique sense of place”.
Residential buildings would be between six to eight storeys, with ground floor level parking, a health centre, indoor sports, and a primary school.
In common with all the other neighbourhoods, a number of cafes and restaurants are also planned.
Lindsey Ashworth, development director, said: “Since the concept vision we call Liverpool Waters was born in 2007, we have worked very hard with all our stakeholders and the local communities listening to everyone’s views.
“Changes were made in many different ways; tall buildings have been removed from the immediate waterfront, heights scaled down and the Shanghai Tower has even moved four times.
“We now feel we have reached a scheme that is still magnificent yet balanced, which reflects both Peel’s ambition and vision, but also respects heritage, public requests and the market and commercial needs that Liverpool now needs in order to move forward.
“The UK Government has already endorsed sister scheme Wirral Waters, but for us Liverpool Waters and Wirral Waters is one scheme that has a river running through it.
“With the economic climate the way it presently is, the private sector has to lead in attracting inward investment and international companies will only come to schemes like Wirral and Liverpool Waters because they are of the highest quality and impressive.
“This will put the Liverpool region in a very strong position to move us out of this recession and help to create jobs for local people”.
THE public events will be held at the Crowne Plaze Hotel tonight (Mon 31 Jan), and next Monday (7 Feb) between 6pm and 9pm.
There is seating for 500, and Peel will provide free parking for the first 150 on a first-come first-served basis.
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