Liverpool to consult on Baltic Triangle masterplan

A spatial regeneration framework for the 93-acre Baltic Triangle district, including Cains Brewery Village and the Wapping Goods Terminal site, will go out for consultation on 17 February under plans set out by Liverpool City Council.

A team led by consultancy LDA Design and including JLL, Mott Macdonald, DS Emotion and heritage specialist Robert Bevan was appointed last January to draw up a masterplan for the future of the district that lies to the south of the city centre.

The council has recommended the masterplan be approved for public consultation at its cabinet meeting next Friday. Subject to consent from officers, the consultation will run for five weeks.

LDA opened its North West office in Manchester in October 2018, and the Baltic Triangle project was its first in the region.

The area covered by the masterplan spans around 93 acres, incorporating the Cains Brewery leisure scheme and emerging developments south of Upper Parliament Street.

LDA’s masterplan identifies four ‘areas of change’ – the former police headquarters, after the new one opens in Scotland Road, and Heaps Mill; Wapping Goods Terminal; Flint Street South, and the Cains Brewery Village and Hill Street Corridor. The document will set out scale and design, heritage, connectivity and green infrastructure guidelines for proposed schemes within these areas.

In addition, the masterplan proposes enhancing pedestrian and cycle routes across the Baltic Triangle; protecting open spaces and creating ‘green corridors’ in line with the city’s £3.4m Urban GreenUp project to increase garden and park spaces across Liverpool; ensuring buildings have active ground floor uses to minimise vacancy, and potentially designating the site as a Conservation Area.

It also calls for a new rail station to serve the Baltic Triangle reopening the old St James station.

The population of the Baltic Triangle has doubled in the past decade, with a growing creative and digital industry, putting pressure on available land.

Several schemes have either started construction or won planning consent in the area in the past year including a 505-home project by Legacie Developments, designed by Falconer Chester Hall, and a scheme by Eloquent to convert a four-storey warehouse into flats and commercial space.

Other ongoing schemes include Baltic Creative CIC’s plans to convert the 19th-century Norfolk Street warehouse into workspace, and a public café and YPG’s 204-apartment scheme off Tabley Street.

Mark Graham, director at LDA Design: “Our focus on the network of existing and historic streets, using a place-led approach, ensures that development and emerging uses will be focussed on delivering positive street environments that embrace the character and vibrancy of this amazing place…[and] ensure the longevity of the Baltic Triangle as a digital and creative hub, while also making it a great place to live.”

Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool, added: “The development of the Baltic Triangle is one of Liverpool’s great success stories of the past decade and this new masterplan will help guide and ensure this growth continues for the decades to come.

“Consultation with businesses and residents will be crucial to how this draft plan is shaped.”

Following consultation and further necessary amends, the draft spatial regeneration framework will return to cabinet to be approved for use in guiding planning applications in the area.

It will also be endorsed as a supplementary planning document following adoption of Liverpool’s 15-year Local Plan, which is expected to come into force in early 2021, the council said.

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The Baltic Triangle is a finite resource….once developed there will be no further scope for building….only embellishment….will that mean investment in The Ten Streets North of the centre ?…..or take the cash elsewhere !!!

By Tercol

We don’t need ‘heritage’ involvement.

By Graham

Too bad they can’t open a few ‘regional’ offices in Liverpool for a change. It obviously does help things move in your direction. Such as Highways England. Network Rail.Transport Police. Can we have some crumbs?.

By Visitor

All the apartments etc being built around Baltic but we’re are people going to park their cars at the moment we have parking on any bit of land or pavements. Stanhope Street and Mariners wharf are prime examples.

By Glenys oakman

Baltic definitely needs this. Lots of potential to create a vibrant, city centre district. Currently, it’s a bit of an underwhelming experience with little to offer other than places to drink.

By Anon

Better late than never!

Also LOL @ the prospect of the Local Plan being adopted by early 2021. Currently it’s a copy and paste job of the UDP (itself based on evidence from the 1980s) rushed out to avoid intervention from the MHCLG. It’s so poor that the Inspector issued extensive main modifications BEFORE allowing it to proceed to examination.

By SillyGoose

This would almost be a retrospective masterplan. The Council have let developers run amok in the area with no coherent plan for the last decade. The successes in the area are despite the Council rather than because of it. How are they getting on with the Mathew Street masterplan as well? Another area that any other major city would kill for that this and previous administrations in the city have failed to capitalise upon.

By John Smith

Liverpool’s approach to the Baltic has not been dissimilar to other cities in their ‘hip’ districts, largely laissez faire. The fact that this is in the buffer zone if a World Heritage Site makes a difference and distinguishes it from other areas adding to its distinctiveness as well as its appeal. The young creatives like this. It has influenced development patterns and continues to do so, largely for the better. Much more greenery and a coherent approach to open spaces and public realm will be much welcomed however.

By Liverpolitan

Where are the local shops? One can only live off craft beer and beard oil for so long.

By Bing Crosby

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