Liverpool City Council has selected West 8 and BDP, two highly respected urban design and landscape architecture firms, to create a comprehensive plan intended to guide Liverpool’s waterfront development over the next 25 years. The plan will be supported by WSP (connectivity and movement) and Ekosgen (social impact) consultants. The chosen firms’ multidisciplinary teams include landscape architects, urban designers, engineers, industrial designers, and ecologists with experience in waterfront regeneration projects worldwide across New York, Toronto, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Hamburg, and Rotterdam. Liverpool’s waterfront has hosted international events like European Capital of Culture 2008, Eurovision 2021, and is currently the venue for the River of Light arts festival, which enhances its cultural offerings year-round.
Over the past 20 years, Liverpool’s waterfront has transformed. However, it remains is not without challenges, including inequalities between and deprivation in adjoining neighbourhoods and a lack of coherence between adjoining development initiatives. The proposed plan has seven aims: maximising contribution to Liverpool and surrounding areas’ economy, benefiting hinterland communities, improving connectivity, conserving and enhancing the city heritage, providing excellence in quality and design, identifying necessary infrastructure, and considering environmental improvements. Liverpool City Council aims to use the plan to encourage more inclusive development and ensure maximum benefit to neighbouring communities.
Liverpool’s draft waterfront plan will complement surrounding masterplans, including Liverpool’s Local Plan, adopted in 2022, and guide the development of neighbouring areas, such as the Commercial District and Baltic Quarter. The council intends that the plan will become a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) after approval and implementation in concert with complementary masterplans. Corporate Director of City Development Nuala Gallagher acknowledged the waterfront’s iconic significance and importance to Liverpool’s identity, reflecting the council’s ambition to develop the world-famous spot further. Director of Planning Samantha Campbell praised both firms’ experience with complex regeneration schemes and waterfront development worldwide, while West 8’s Partner and Urban Designer Director Martin Biewenga is excited for the opportunity to create a coherent, legible, and visionary approach for Liverpool’s future waterfront
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