The programme for this study trip, organised around visits to sites and presentation-debates, successfully fulfilled its objectives of information and exchanges of experience on the topic of the re-conversion of former port areas.
Between 1981 and 1998, the Merseyside Development Corporation (MDC), set up by the Conservative Government, became the manager of the South Docks, handed over to them by the Liverpool Port authority. Following a summary restoration of the docks, MDC encouraged investment by the private sector. Right at the start of the Eighties, a large part of the South Docks was developed as a residential area. However these attractive buildings looking out over the water did not contribute towards the creation of a very animated urban district since they were disconnected from the city. One of the leading projects of that period was the rehabilitation of Albert Dock. A few hundred yards from the city centre, the development of this huge collection of brick buildings and adjacent public spaces, did not enable a functional connection with the historic centre to be established. Today, Liverpool Vision, a relay organisation set up in 1999 after the dismantling of MDC, has the mission of establishing a clear strategy for the regeneration of the city centre in relationship with its Waterfront.
View of one part of the re-developped Albert Dock Area: juxtaposition of buildings and water, created in the 19th century by and for their historic port working relationship
The Colonnades - The floors of the Albert Dock Warehouses are all supported on iron columns. On your left, view of the Three Graces.
The South Docks were rehabilitated mainly in the Eighties and Nineties, but not Kings Dock. Today he is the subject of a urban refitting programme of great scale.
Copyright : Merseyside Development Corporation (MDC)
PRINCIPAL SITES OF THE KEY WATERFRONT PROJECTS: Princes Dock (finished)
Planning: Offices and housing
Contracting Authority: Mersey Dock and Harbour Company (The port of Liverpool)
For more information : http://www.merseydocks.co.uk
Cruise Liner Facility (beginning of the woks in 2005)
Contracting Authority: City Council Liverpool
Estimated total cost: 11.5 millions de sterling
For more information : http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/
Canal Link across Pier Head (beginning of the woks in 2005)
Contracting Authority: British Waterways
For more information :
http://www.liverpoolcanallink.co.uk/ http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/
KIngs Dock Waterfront (beginning of the woks in 2005)
Mixed planning: Conference and exhibition centre, residences, retail, leisure activities of...
Total cost: 200 million, of which 70 come from Objective 1 of the Structural Funds of the European Union. 94 million are poured by English Partnerships, 16 million by Liverpool City Council and 20 million by Regional Northwest Development Agency.
For more information : http://www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
Paradise Street Development area Ropewalks
37.3 ha and more than 96 listed buildings, are the subject of a vast program of urban regeneration, in order to insufflate a new social and economic dynamism
For more information : http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/ http://www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
Pier Head Fourth Grace programmation :
The public actors give up "The Cloud", project of Will Alsop. A significant progression of the estimated cost (324 million of £ against 228 million a year earlier) made fear a too important financial risk
For more information : http://www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
It turns out, from the presentations of the City and the various organisations implicated in the processes of the overall regeneration, that the port and maritime heritage provides an extraordinary plus for Liverpool. This heritage also supposes an enhanced value and management, not always exempt from technical and financial difficulties. The connections of the heritage port warehouses and dock basins with the city centre constitute a sometimes delicate challenge. Thus the fate of a part of the Central Docks, the Stanley Dock area, extremely decrepit, remains problematical in so far as it is, at the same time too far from the city centre to have an urban interest, and too narrow to provide any potential for port redevelopment.
The gargantuan Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse : 14 storeys high, 10.500 m², built of 27m bricks, 30.000 panes of glass and 8.000 tons of steel ... It is believed to be the largest brick building in the world !
The Ropewalks district, situated between the city centre and the South Docks, actually provides the "urban link" that will enable Liverpool to re-find its Waterfront. Whilst, in the old days it housed port warehouses, headquarters and residences of the rich maritime ship-owners of Liverpool, the Ropewalks district is today the object of an urban regeneration programme of over £70 million and a large part (33.7 hectares) of the sector has been integrated within the perimeter of the recently listed UNESCO World Heritage site. The urban landscape is very varied and in spite of the dilapidation of numerous buildings, modern buildings and rehabilitated warehouses rub shoulders with each other harmoniously, creating a lively and warm atmosphere. Today, the challenge for the City is to resist the growing real estate pressures that see in this district a place with a future only a few paces away from the city centre.
A particular care is taken to public spaces so that they preserve and respect the historical character of the district.
The City of Liverpool, listed as an UNESCO World Heritage site since July 2004 and European Cultural Capital in 2008, is working in close cooperation with local development organisations, with regional ones (The Northwest Regional Development Agency), and national ones (English Partnership*) as well as with private sector partners. Between now and 2008, Liverpool aims to bring forth a large number of huge projects, such as the development of the Kings Waterfront site, situated as a direct continuation with the Albert Dock. An overall development plan is being drawn up. This must include propositions for, on the one hand, the creation of a stadium and a big conference and exhibition centre, and on the other hand the creation of a new dynamic and sustainable district of residential accommodation, shops and recreational activities.
Part of the Liverpool's Waterfront (to the south of Albert Dock), which is currently subject to a masterplan. Ahead of 2008 (
Liverpool as Culture Capital).
Kings and Queens Docks in 2002
Project of Kings waterfront in 2008
Plan of the Nominated site, the Buffer Zone, Natural Features, Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas.
Copyright : The City of Liverpool
The port of Liverpool
Liverpool provides a remarkable example of recovery, due in part to the new commercial spirit of the port authority, the Merseyside Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC). The financial cleanup of 1982 and the abolition of the National Dock Labour Scheme in 1989 widely contributed to this, as did the heavy investments undertaken for the development of the North Zone of the port (Seaforth Dock).
Historically, the former port area consisted in a narrow band of docks spread out perpendicularly to the river bank and separated by narrow jetties over about twelve kilometres on each side of Liverpool on the right bank of the Mersey, opposite the port complex of Birkenhead on the left bank. If MDHC were the owners and managers of nearly 1760 hectares of port lands in 1980, it now only owns the central part (Central Docks) and the part north of the historical docks, running from Princes Dock to Seaforth Dock, as well as still the Birkenhead complex, a total area of 800 hectares. 960 hectares of the South Docks were handed over to the Mersey Development Corporation between 1980 and 1988.
MDHC has concentrated their redevelopment efforts within these new port boundaries where the least obsolete part of the installations were to be found. They have undertaken various reorganisations in association with private operators to install terminals for the handling of secondary bulk or conventional cargos, notably for scrap metals for which the export market is considerably expanding. Thus, from 20 million tonnes in 1970, the overall traffic did not cease to fall, dropping to only 10 million tonnes in 1985. A spectacular revival then took place over the last 20 years and at the end of 2003, the overall traffic was close to 32 million tonnes including 578 000 TEUs.
The income generated by MDHC comes not only from the port activities of Liverpool, but also those of the Medway ports and Heysham (to the North of Liverpool). The port company also owns several subsidiaries operating in various varied fields : business travel, port consultancy and management of building developments (such as the Princes Dock Development Co Ltd, responsible for the development of the Princes Dock site). Elsewhere they are also shareholders in several terminals in the UK, in Ireland (Dublin), in Mozambique (port of Maputo) and in Argentina (Port of San Nicolas). Finally, MDHC also is the landowner of 336 hectares in Medway and 48 hectares in Heysham.
Copyright : Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
The Seaforth Container terminal ranks among the Top Ten container ports of Northern Europe. It now handles more than 550 000 TEU a year.
Dedicated to passenger trafic from 1810 up to 1981, this former port area has just been transformed (August 2004) into places to work and for leisure activities.
For further information : - Extracts of the papers presented and the visits of the 28th and 29th October can be downloaded in pdf format (reserved to members of IACP only ).
- For any additional information concerning the projects or possible contacts with the project leaders in Liverpool, please see with the IACP staff (tel: +33 (0)235 42 78 84, or by e-mail aivp@aivp.com)
- - "The Regeneration of Liverpool's Waterfront, 1981 to 1998", document presented during the conference at the Aristotle University of Thessalonica in December 1997, authors: Roger Rumbold, Professor John Handley, Iain Deas, Tim Johnston.
> Download the contents
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Links :
- English Partnership : a national body directly attached to the vice Prime Minister's office, that initiates the creation and accompanies the "Urban Regeneration Companies" in setting up urban projects. There are 16 URC in England including Liverpool Vision in Liverpool. http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk
- Liverpool Vision http://www.liverpoolvision.co.uk
- The Northwest Regional Development Agency http://www.nwda.co.uk/
- The Liverpool City Council http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/
- English Heritage http://www.english-heritage.org.uk
- British Waterways http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/
- Mersey Docks and Harbour Company http://www.merseydocks.co.uk
