Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
1.0 Introduction Thankyou for expressing interest in our Liverpool Waterfront design slam. Last month the Merseyside Forest published their green audit for Liverpool City Centre and found that it is one of the least green places in the county. This is particularly ridiculous as we have so much vacant land and useable water space. Bluegreen Liverpool and the Canal and Rivers Trust invite you to join our team of landscape architects, engineers, ecologists, archaelogists and architects to imagine a green and pro-social future for Liverpool’s World Heritage Southern Docks. In order to provide a solution that decision markers can sign up to, our proposals will need to retain existing buildings, be sensitive to the historic setting and work with the majority of the ideas in Baca Architect’s water-space strategy. We should, however, ask what else we need the docks to be and who are they for? Do we want the docks to be further developed as place for tourists, navigation, sports and people with money to spend. How do we balance this with the waterfront as a place where people live, a place that offers contact with nature, the elements, tranquillity and piece of mind in the middle of a busy day. Should they be a place where all Merseyside communities and tourists meet and visit because they are a special life-affirming place to be -with events contributing something additional? Can we create a place that is both tranquil and exciting, retakes our waterfront from commercial development, provides facilities if you can afford them and also offers a ‘breathing space’ in our city? 2.0 About Bluegreen Liverpool Blue-Green Liverpool is a project by Engage Liverpool CIC and managed by landscape architect, Elaine Cresswell from reShaped. The project brings residents and designers together to look for new ways to create new green space and use the waterfront's blue space. Ideas generated by Bluegreen Liverpool will feed into the emerging neighbourhood forums and influence the future development of our city centre. In the past year, we have delivered DIY furniture projects on vacant land, consultations, liveableLiverpool resident workshops and greening the grey walks. We recently won Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ funding to set up allotments and growing spaces and are currently working with residents, businesses, social enterprises and schools to green vacant land between Bold Street and the Baltic. 3.0 Heritage A detailed description of the development of Liverpool’s dock system can be found in Baca Architect’s Water-space strategy. The majority of the docks and buildings are listed and within Area 2 of the UNESCO World Heritage Site or the Buffer Zone. They were designated as such as they:
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
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Provide testimony to maritime mercantile culture in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, emigration from northern Europe to America and were the centre of the slave trade and contributed to the development of the British empire, The Albert Dock Warehouses and the Dock Traffic Office are the largest collection of intact Grade One listed buildings in the United Kingdom. The design for which were innovative and permitted unloading from the ships straight into the warehouse. Their construction was designed to be fireproof and represented the world's first noncombustible warehouse system The Graving Docks were the world’s first enclosed commercial dock, part of the wall of the dry basin (so called because it dried out with the tide) and the southern entrance to the old George’s Dock of 1772 are listed buildings; Most of the stone dock walls are designated as listed buildings
Despite the historic significance of the docks, we must remember that they were never envisioned to be a static entity. They have always been filled in and dug out as required for the successful functioning of the dock system. Sarah-Jane Farr, our visiting archaeologist, will be able to give you much more detail and advice on an acceptable balance to strike between repurposing and retaining heritage during the design slam. 4.0 Liverpool Waterfront Users 4.1 Public Consultation: Bluegreen carried out consultation with residents at the ‘Walk on the Wildside’ event at Everton Park in 2015. The overwhelming response was: •
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People remembered swimming in the docks and watching the ships at Pierhead as a child. They wanted their grandchildren to experience it (Could we cover a section so that swimming was possible in winter); Their favourite place was the locks in North Liverpool. (Could we create a space this intimate in Duke’s Dock?); They used the canal and docks for fishing for pike (often catching perch), painting, running and cycling; They loved the air, space and light waterfront and the relationship with the water as well as the sweet shop and museums at the Albert Dock, They wanted green space, the beautiful warehouses to be turned into housing for local people and families, even attractive and safe cycle routes from the north docks to Otterspool with and toilets and a café stop, more sailing boats and productive use of the water-space (ie mussel farming)
A key quote was “I love Painting at the docks. Love the light and the views. Its great for painting as has a little activity (boats for scale), fluid light characteristic of water and air contrasting with the solidness of the building”
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
4.2 Liverpool Waterfront Residents Liverpool Waterfront is a new residential area, with the population growing from 200 'pioneers' at the Albert Dock in the 1980s to more than 10,000 residents in 2014. Super Output Area data from the 2011 Census reveals that these residents tend to live alone (53.3%) and in new build apartments (88.6%) with car parks instead of gardens or shared public space. The result is that many residents feel isolated. 30% of Baltic residents have "no one to turn to in a time of need", and 45% of Waterfront residents don't know their neighbours. This is significantly higher than levels recorded for Liverpool as a whole (9.7%) in the Centre for Public Health's North West Mental Wellbeing Survey 2012/13. Residents choose to stay on the Waterfront because the area is walkable, with 40.5% of the population walking to work every day (the England & Wales average is 10.7%). Engage Liverpool has found that the lack of green space on the Waterfront is a key issue for residents: from Armstrong Quay in the East to the Pierhead there are no parks or communal green spaces. There is a magnificent view of the Mersey, but no amenities (toilets, refreshments), no green space, and no entirely free, public uses of the blue space. 4.3 Leisure Vessels Use of the docks by leisure vessels is shown in detail on Baca’s report. Key considerations are: •
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Only six canal boats a day are allowed to enter the docks. The main limiting factor is the number of berths available on the mooring pontoons. Boats can moor at Salthouse Dock for up to 12 days; Liverpool Marina has 350 permanent moorings and full most of the time; The Royal Navy needs access to the Brunswick dockside at the location shown on Baca’s plan; Tall ships can only use Canning and Albert dock due to the low bridge between Albert Dock and Salthouse Dock; Shipping channel through the dock system from the Leeds Liverpool canal link and the locks to the Mersey must be kept open at all times
4.4 Watersports The entire dock system is open for use by the watersports centre and on the weekend the Brunswick and Queens docks are full of rowers, canoeists, children having sailing lessons. Water space between The Keel and the Marina is used for wakeboarding. 4.5 Visitors and Events Liverpool waterfront is the North-Wests most visited free tourist attraction. It hosts a packed programme of free events throughout the summer, including Liverpool Pirate Festival, Red Bull Harbour Reach, International Mersey River Festival, Northern Boat Show and Vintage on the Dock. In 2015, 6.3m people flocked to the albert docks, adding £4.4m to the local economy. Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
During the One Magnificant City programme and the Three Cunard Queens weekend alone, footfall exceeded 75,000. The 3 day event boosted the local economy by nearly £33million. A footbridge is proposed across Graving Docks from Mann Island to the Pump house to help disperse people during these events. The Museums and Galleries Trust want to transform Graving docks into an open-air museum 5.0 The Brief The brief will be developed in the Saturday morning design slam session. The outputs require us to produce a greening and movement strategy but we believe that we can address some of the existing deeper issues and conflicts at the waterfront and create a place that promotes our wellbeing and that we all want to use. Lets take a breath, a back step and consider: • • • • • • • •
Do we like the docks? Why? How do they make us feel? How do we use them? Any special memories? Who are they for? What do we need the docks to be? How does the current use, layout and design of the docks meet these needs? How do we balance competing needs? How does Baca Architect’s proposals fit in with these needs? What do we need to change in order to achieve our aspirations? How do we achieve this?
Initial Design Thoughts: • • • • • • • • • • •
Lets be bold, innovative, playful yet sensitive to the historic docks and world heritage site including the listed dock walls; Introduce ‘Breathing spaces’ into the dockland landscape; Identify potential locations for a new city centre park and dock swimming areas, possibly a dock slide?; Create an exciting and tranquil pedestrian walkway through the docks (without impeding boat, canoe, sailing boat traffic) Reduce the visual and auditory dominance of car traffic on site dockside and along the Strand; Improve links with Liverpool city centre – would it be crazy to underground the Strand? And build a park over the top Increase the habitat potential and encourage diverse wildlife; Introduce vegetation into Brunswick dock to clean up the oil from the boats in the Marina; Introduce a commuter cycle route on land; Improve movement of pedestrians during high capacity events; Improve access along the river, improve the river edge walkway setting and encourage use by tourists and residents. Consider introducing ‘moments’ into the walkway at key nodes and creating a neighbourhood venue near to Liverpool marina;
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
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Improve and green the setting of the Echo Arena. Consider creating an urban forest in this area; Enhance capacity for tall ship and canal boat birthing, particularly during the Tall Ships festival and the Liverpool boat show; Improve the relationship between the land and the water, create active edges and an events venue in Salthouse Dock; Improve views and tranquility of the river and waterfront; Provide accessible meeting places for all potential users and promote the dock as a place of equal importance to residents, tourists, children, visitors, business, Merseyside wide, city centre and local residents; Promote the 5 ways to wellbeing (active, keep learning, connect, notice and give) create a pro-social place that encourages interaction between people.
Following this week’s meeting with the Canal and Rivers Trust we should also think about the following additional themes: • • • •
How we introduce ‘change’ into such a static landscape so that local people want to come back throughout the year Could we have an Eden Centre of the North. Where would we locate it? Could we have a museum that provides a peak below the water level How would we design the routes so that they were legible without signage
6.0 Constraints and Opportunities Baca Architect’s water-space strategy highlights the key challenges to creating a successful waterspace are: • • •
The relationship with the World Heritage Site and the listed status of many of the dock walls; The difference in height between the dock edge (quayside) and the water level; The pedestrian access from the north and the lack of public activity or attractions further south in the docks.
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
What are the challenges in creating successful places for people to live work and play? We will look at this during the design slam but our initial thoughts are: • • • •
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Lack of tranquility - The Strand and site roads create noise, car movements, barrier to pedestrian movements; Lack of space – Dominance of roads, car parking, width of walkways/ bridges between buildings and the river. This problem increase on event days; Lack of public realm that feels like a ‘Place’ Presence of bland commercial development,s with mass paving areas, that have largely turned their back on the water. Poor quality 80s housing have restricted public access to the docks The elements. (Although this is why I like it) – Is it just too ‘nesh’ to sit outside? What kind of plants will thrive? User group aspirations – are they differing? Can we please everyone? How can we provide an event scale landscape that provides the human scale detail and liveable places?
7.0 Planning Background The planning background for the docks is set out in some detail in Baca’s report. The main elements of which are as follows: •
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The Unitary Development Plan states that the surrounding public realm should be enhanced with greater pedestrian permeability, offering a suitable setting for the docks and buildings; Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5) identifies the need to take account of the wider social, cultural economic and environmental benefits of heritage conservation and the role it can play in place-shaping. Biodiversity & habitat should be enhanced, carbon emissions reduced and where possible mitigate damage caused in the past and offer climate change resilience. Improved public realm should be provided that encourages pedestrian, cycle and public transport use; The Mersey Partnership have identified that ease of access and the quality of the urban environment are obstacles to repeat tourist visits; The Maritime Mercantile City WHS SPD highlights the ambition to conserve the docks, with the water spaces revitalised by a new management regime and new animated uses; The City Centre Public Realm Framework advocates a clear system of hierarchy of streets squares and boulevards. City Centre Movement Strategy objectives were to: create a World Class environment and Visitor Destination at the Pier Head; and improve the Pier Head as a gateway to the city centre from the Cruise Liner and Mersey Ferry facilities. The Strategy has identified that there are poor linkages from the waterfront to the city centre and has stated the importance of reducing the impact of the main Strand road and the creation of ‘super crossings’
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
8.0 Design Slam organisation 8.1 Roles • • •
Designer: If you have half a day or more, come and join our design team. It should be a lot of fun, great networking and the chance to influence future development of the docks; Design reviewer: Come and chat to our design teams about their thoughts if you have an hour; Expert: If you are an Engineer, QS, Archaeologist, Young People or Resident we will have a multitude of questions to ask you. Pop in for coffee, food, or longer.
8.2 Outputs This largely depends on you and how you communicate your ideas best. All the material produced will be given to an artist to produce visuals and a layout plan from so ideally it would help her if submissions provided three or more of the following: • • • • • •
A roughly marked up plan, photos or contribution to the design team sticky note plans A clear design either in plan or cross section. Sketch details Expressive impression of the character of your design area and proposals (words, collages) A sketch physical or sketch-up model or visuals 200-300 word design narrative for us to include in our presentation and Engage web site. Ensure that the story you tell avoids jargon and paints a picture in a non-expert’s minds.
8.3 Location of Design Slam • •
Suite 8, Church House, 1 Hanover Street, L1 3DN The front door will be open 8.30-9.00am each day. Ring the bell to suite 8 during this time and I’ll buzz you in. Come to the third floor. Outside this time, the building will be shut due to recent thefts. You will need to ring Elaine on 07788991954 to be let in.
• 8.4 Programme th Saturday 9 March • 8.30am - Doors open • 9.00-9.30am - Discussion and initial thoughts about what Liverpool needs the docks to be. • 9.30-11.30am - Site visit • 11.30am-12.30 - Discussion and response to site visit • 12.30-1.30pm - Lunch (Provided) • 1.30-5.30pm - Design • 5.30-6.30pm - Draft sketch progress update • 6.30pm - Food and drinks will be provided if anyone chooses to continue
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped
Liverpool Waterfront Design Slam
Sunday 10th April • 8.30 - Doors open • 9.00-9.30 - Tea/Coffee and 5 minute group feedback from day one • 9.30-1.00pm - Design • 1.00-1.30pm - Lunch (Provided) • 1.30-5.30am - Design • 5.30-6.30pm - 5 minute presentations of your sketch proposals. Pizza, drinks and feedback from day 2 and discussion where we want to take designs from here - stop? do we need sleep tonight? carry on in our spare time? Saturday 16th April • •
Any subsequent design work that you have completed Narrative text
8.5 What to bring We have spare drawing equipment but it would help save our budget for food and drinks if you could bring: • • • • • • • •
Laptop Bike to carry out quick design visits to site (I have one citybike membership) Drawing pens, pencils, erasers Tracing paper and paper Sharpies Model making equipment (if you want to make models) Bluetack Masking tape
Communications and Presentation Award : CP1443 Bluegreen Liverpool, reShaped