After decades of neglect, Liverpool’s north docks now seem to be the place where it’s all happening.
It’s home to the culturally led Ten Streets project consisting of music venues and creative startups. There’s luxury apartments in Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse, with a luxury hotel next door - The Titanic.
Highrise flats and offices have nudged their way into the city skyline at Princes Dock. Further along the dock road, a new neighbour in the area is settling in at Bramley Moore, with Everton's new stadium edging closer to completion by the day.
READ MORE: Bramley Moore and the survival, neglect and renaissance of north Liverpool
Standing at the centre of Central Docks, this picture of vibrancy and activity might be a little harder to grasp. The area is right in the heart of the Liverpool Waters’ 60 hectare site which stretches from the Three Graces up to where the new Bramley Moore stadium will stand. It’s largely derelict and inhabited by seagulls and geese.
After laying dormant for a number of decades, which saw the area’s industry dramatically erode way, a promise of change started to take shape in the north docks in 2012. Peel L&P, which owns Liverpool’s modernised port in Seaforth, gained outline planning permission for Liverpool Waters - a £5bn regeneration scheme that would transform the deserted docklands into a mix of residential, commercial and public space.
The masterplan for Central Docks specifically envisions 3,800 new homes, 116,000 sq m of office space, 25,000 square sq m of restaurants and bars and a public park. This is yet to be built, and the terrain under foot as Chris Capes guides us through the area is one of broken rocks interrupted by rusted dock infrastructure - as opposed to luscious green grass.
The development director for Peel L&P overseeing Liverpool Waters is however keen to point out that ambitions for the area haven’t declined. “Everybody looks for big physical changes don't they,” Mr Capes tells the ECHO when asked what he views as Liverpool Water’s biggest achievement to date - since it gained outline planning permission nine years ago.
While the space for the Central Docks masterplan is ready and waiting, he points towards the progress at Bramley Moore, “a game changer for us at the north end of the site”, as well as progress at Princes Dock. Here, the latest addition to Liverpool’s skyline, The Lexington, opened last September among a cluster of offices and residential builds. He also outlines how over 600 new homes have been delivered within the perimeter of Liverpool Waters, with more in the pipeline.
New plans for ‘Central Park’, a five acre public park in the heart of the development, have now been revealed and appear to form the next step of the Central Docks regeneration - and the wider Liverpool Waters project. "The green lungs of Liverpool Waters," as he describes it.
Mr Capes believes the green space, entering a phase of public consultation, will be an integral aspect of improving understanding and accessibility of Liverpool Waters. He agrees that the majority of new infrastructure has been largely residential and office-based to date, developments that don’t always add to the general allure of a neighbourhood.
He told the ECHO: “What ‘Central Park’ does is it sets the foundation for creating a place, creating the next stage of developments. A key aspect for us now is the public engagement and delivery of the park.”
Mr Capes says there is not yet a fixed date when planning applications will be submitted, nor a detailed projection of when it hopes to be built. But they are keen to hear from as much of the public as possible in order to inform their plans.
'These things take time'
Plans for Liverpool Waters have been public for over a decade and have already had a significant impact on the city, even with much of the project still in an early phase. Early plans for the Shanghai Tower skyscraper on the waterfront have been shelved, with aspects of the wider project made smaller in size. Although this was not enough to convince UNESCO that the dockland’s heritage could be preserved in a way that the organisation requested. Subsequently, including other factors such as the infill of Bramley Moore Dock, Liverpool was deleted from UNESCO’s world heritage list in July last year.
In some quarters, Peel L&P has been subject to criticism for its pace in delivering Liverpool Waters. In Manchester, its Salford Quays development which houses Media City is one of the most successful regeneration projects in the country. Locally, there has been a feeling that Liverpool has lagged behind while Peel L&P sits on such an important piece of land tied to the city’s identity and heritage.
Peel and Mr Capes however push back on this criticism and point to the projects that are on their way toward completion in the area. He told the ECHO: “We'd definitely push back on criticism that development hasn't been quick enough and the vision is taking longer to materialise. We’ve delivered 660 homes on site since March 2019.
“The Isle of Man Ferry terminal well under way, Everton stadium well under way. And the Central docks area still has the potential to deliver thousands of homes.”
Mr Capes said it is easy to lay blame at the door of Peel, especially when people are anxious to see positive development after a chequered decade across the city of Liverpool. He added: “It is easy to point the finger and say things haven't happened as quickly as they should have. But these are really big and complex sites. Peel L&P is just as keen to bring forward development in Liverpool as it is in Manchester.
“We are absolutely looking at the next 10 years of delivery and what it can bring - not just for Peel but the people of Liverpool. These things take time. It's a 30 year outline planning permission and we are absolutely focussed on delivering the next 20 years on site.”
North Liverpool's turn
Earlier this year the ECHO spoke to University of Liverpool’s Prof Michael Parkinson about regeneration hopes for north Liverpool. After seeing many of the city’s successful regeneration projects happen elsewhere, Prof Parkinson, who’s chronicled the city’s rise and full and rise again in a number of books, suggested it’s now “North Liverpool’s turn”.
He told the ECHO: “It’s a stain on the city's conscience that we haven't systematically tried to work on North Liverpool like we did on the city centre and other places where we put in serious time, money and effort”, adding that projects in the north docks now have the chance to turn the tide - one of those being Liverpool Waters.
The £5bn scheme is situated on the riverside of Kirkdale, one of the most deprived areas in Europe. Asked whether changing the impression of an area like Kirkdale is key aim of Peel’s, Mr Capes says this will be as “significant” as the developments that will be built on the site. However he says this is not something that will happen overnight.
He added: “It will take a little bit of time to establish the idea of people going north for the day rather than south.” Mr Capes outlines that the likes of Aigburth and Cressington will be drawn to local parks in their area, but, in time, attracting people from these neighbourhoods to the north of Liverpool would serve as a telling point of success.
The overall ecosystem of the north docks is one that currently remains balanced. In the short term, local businesses and creatives based in the area should stand to benefit as Liverpool Waters progress and more attention and money is invested into the post industrial landscape.
But there remains potential for organisations to be out priced in the long run, as land values and investor interest rises. Creative organisations such as The Invisible Wind Factory and Make CIC did a lot of the heavy lifting to display the north docks in a new light in the 2010s, but will only get so much protection from the 10 Street Strategic Regeneration framework. Local Cllr Joe Hanson has previously told the ECHO how the framework may need a rethink now the area is in a different position to what it was five years ago.
Asked whether Liverpool Waters risks harming the new, cultural identity of the North Docks, Mr Capes said he sees the £5bn project as “part of the jigsaw”. He added: "We need to provide commercial opportunities and a mixed neighbourhood. If we can support those ventures, it has to be part of the whole picture.”
Mr Capes points to developments in King Edwards triangle in Princes Dock which is home to a brewery as well as the mixed neighbourhoods Peel can deliver. But while the intricacies of its tenants and residents will be important to shaping the north docks as a resurgent new place, many in the city will remain expectant of the enormous, transformation projects Peel has pulled off in neighbouring Manchester.
Asked if Liverpool’s own derelict dockland contains the same potential Peel saw and delivered in Salford Quays, Mr Capes remained bullish about his hopes for Liverpool - irrespective of the large swathes of land that remain undeveloped.
He told the ECHO: “[Salford and Liverpool Waters] are different places. What's happened in Salford and Media city is fantastic. A great development.
“We're confident we can do the same thing here. We're not saying it's going to be the same as Media City - it's a different development in a different location with different needs. What surrounds us here is different to what's in Media city.
“Importantly we have cultural buildings built into our masterplan, we have commercial, we have residential as well. But absolutely we're confident that we will deliver it.”
