Designers drum up ideas for Churchill Way flyover future
With the demolition of the flyovers in Liverpool now well under way, the city’s property community has put forward ideas for how to use the key gateway sites in future.
The two roads, opened in the 1970s as part of Liverpool’s abandoned inner ring road scheme, are being knocked down after a review earlier this year found both were “no longer adequate to carry vehicles or pedestrians”. They have been closed since September 2018.
The flyovers link Lime Street to both Dale Street and Tithebarn Street, and run directly behind the city’s museums on William Brown Street. Remedial works were previously carried out in the 1980s, in 2005, and in 2013.
While the council has said it will make alterations to the highways around the sites once demolition completes, at a design charette organised by Liverpool Young Architects, the city’s property and architectural professionals put forward their ideas of how best to use the sites in future.
More than 60 professionals ranging from students to company directors across disciplines including architects, urban designers, landscape architects, and planners, shared their views in an informal design competition. The charette, dubbed Drafts & Draughts, was hosted at Crazy Pedro’s.
Ideas shared by the attendees included a full pedestrianisation of all the plots, providing a vista from St George’s Hall down to Dale Street; reanimating existing street frontages by providing shopfronts for businesses currently dissected by the flyovers; and using the sites to redirect traffic away from Old Haymarket.
Social housing was also mooted, while a public beach was also put forward. Reusing the demolished flyovers as public art at their former home was put forward as well as using the sites for extensive public realm.
The designs were judged by a panel including Sarah Lovelocks, owner of local coffee shop Lovelocks; Pete Swift of Planit-IE; Kim Cooper, senior town planner at Arup; Hazel Rounding, director of ShedKM; and Mark Dickens, spatial planner for the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
It is hoped the ideas will help to stimulate debate around how to use the key gateway sites in future and bring forward a potential transformative vision for the area.
Mat Giles, LYA committee member and director of MgMaStudio, said: ‘The intention of the charette was to build on the existing architectural discourse within Liverpool, to assist in the raising of quality of new major developments.
“The range of ideas was very exciting, and it was interesting the see the engagement between the judges, and participants who varied greatly in profession, and skill base. It is important for these sorts of events to become forums on which better places, and therefore better cities can be built.”
Place! Get it right. It’s St. George’s Hall! It’s arguably the best neoclassical building in Europe and is clearly Grade 1 listed. We need very carefully thought out proposals here and we must not rush it. This is one of the country’s most important architectural landscapes with a collection of buildings the likes of which you will find nowhere else.
By Liverpolitan
Beautiful area you could be walking through London or Paris with a touch of Athens Liverpool is unique i just love it here.
By Anonymous
I stopped reading the comments after “arguably the best neoclassical building in Europe.”
By ChewBaccy
And it contains statues of George Stephenson and Henry Booth.
By Liverpolitan
some well designed office space 5/6 floors with attractive public spacew with some cool water features etc
By stuart wood
As long as Big Joe doesn’t hand the lands over, off market, to the usual developer suspects. We live in hope!
By Old Hall Street
STUNNING!!!!
By Anonymous
You can build your cheap nasty 70’s looking tower blocks i would rather live in a city that has history and ares like this…
By Ken
areas
By Anonymous
The space in front of the World Museum, side entrance, is just waiting for someone to design it. It’s a beautiful frontage, as is the Blackburne Assurance building, and would act as the link to Dale Street from the museums quarter. A water feature /fountain, on a new square here would have the wow factor! I agree with the idea of building some office space here, perhaps onto this new square! Please though, let’s allocate some space at the back of the museums for their future expansion, particularly for the Walker, which doesn’t have enough space to do justice to its hugely significant collections.
By Liverpolitan
It’s not even the best neoclassical building in the UK. St Paul’s Cathedral? Royal Scottish Academy? Why does this website attract such bizarre comments.
By Anonymous
I think you’ll find it’s not a bizarre comment. It has long been considered thus, by architectural historians such as Pevsner, Sharples and Quentin Hughes, as well as by Prince Albert and Queen Victoria; not to mention that member of the current Royal family who is interested in architecture and has long taken a keen interest in St. George’s Hall.
By Roscoe
“In 1969 the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed his opinion that it is one of the finest neo-Grecian buildings in the world,[3] although the building is known for its use of Roman sources as well as Greek. In 2004, the hall and its surrounding area were recognised as part of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site.[4]” Wikipedia
By Just saying
What about all the people that consider it to be the WORST neoclassical building? Not just in the world, but the universe!
It has long been considered thus, by entertainers and presenters such as Susan Boyle, Davina McCall and Mr Blobby.
By Just Praying
Oh dear! They allow them the use of the internet mow.
By Just out!
Sour grapes.. such a shame, particularly for the person who is so bitter.. not a good character trait.
By Liverpolitan
@liverpolitan, I agree, there is far too much pettyiness on this forum.
By just out!
Good to know they haven’t already had this process prior to demo works
By Superintendent Chalmers
Generating ideas such as these is a great step forward. But a public consultation is required. Public opinion – and in particular the opinions of local residents and businesses – is critical. After all, it’s our city.
LL
By Liver lad
By ChewBaccy; I stopped reading the comments after “arguably the best neoclassical building in Europe.” I can see why Chewy…….there is no argument………..it is unquestionably THE best neoclassical building in Europe.
St Paul’s is English Baroque……….not neoclassical
By Billy