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November 2016
Last week I spent 36 hours in Liverpool on an urban design fieldtrip as part of my post graduate course at UCL’s Bartlett School. On reflection it is clear to see that Liverpool is a city of two halves: one side being a shiny new Liverpool for tourists and attracting investment; the other is typical of many post-industrial cities in the UK, out of sight and lacking acknowledgement. It appears the city is on the up but there’s more to it than first meets the eye.
Liverpool’s large Christian population has resulted in two 20th century cathedrals: the modernist Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (known locally as ‘Paddy’s Wigwam’) and the more traditional Anglican Cathedral. These were our first stop on our whistle stop tour. Both are absolutely enormous, and despite sharing the same use and being located at either end of Hope Street, the two churches are incredibly different architecturally.
The following day we were up early, with a few groggy heads caused by the night before and headed to Liverpool One. The new retail-led, mixed-use urban district was brought forward by Liverpool City Council, developed out by Grosvenor and designed by 26 different firms. The area contains more than 30 individually designed buildings including department stores, a bus station, hotels and apartments. It differs from most contemporary shopping centres by being open-air which seeks to diffuse the feeling of being in a shopping centre. The streets which make up Liverpool ONE still exercise public rights of way, keeping the area public for 24 hours a day, a special feat for development such as this.
One thing that has stuck in my head since the trip, was the original plans for the city’s famous Albert Dock. There were plans to fill in the docks, demolish the surrounding buildings and creating a large area of surface car park to service the city. Thankfully English Heritage stepped in and saved the day, now the docks are a prominent tourist attraction for the city.
A short walk from the Albert Dock is Liverpool’s vast waterfront and home to the Three Graces: arguably the city’s most iconic building. Pier Head has seen significant investment in the public realm that greatly enhances the setting of the Three Graces within the world heritage site. In 2012, the area was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger due to the proposed construction of the £5.5bn Liverpool Waters project. The controversial development will regenerate a series of presently derelict dock spaces to the north of Pier Head, and is said will create 17,000 full time jobs and over 21m sqft of new floor space. It could be argued this is what Liverpool needs, but it is clear that, as in many cities, there is some conflict between the needs of the future with the preservation of the past.
Our final stop before heading home was Welsh Streets, the former home of Ringo Star. The area is home to around 440 houses which were abandoned after a New Labour government scheme, Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders was shelved halfway through the project. The plan was to demolish the Victorian terraced houses and expand the housing choice as well as raising house prices. When the project was cut short, Liverpool City Council had already compulsory purchased the dwellings. Promises of new homes then went un-met and today hundreds of houses across the Welsh Street area remain boarded up. In 2015, the area was saved from wholesale destruction by Eric Pickles, then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, continuing the controversial debacle. I’ve certainly never seen anything like it: a complete system failure from the top down.
My 36 hours in Liverpool showed both sides of the planning system, from the glitzy new city centre development to the abandoned homes of Welsh Street. It poses a question of priorities for the current planning system, and at the moment, it would appear that they are more focused on the former.
