The project aim was to provide an attractive gateway into Liverpool’s commercial quarter. This has meant the merging of art and architecture and the creation of a landscape which would successfully knit the rapidly appearing new buildings into the fabric of the city.

‘Liverpool – Threshold to the Ends of the Earth’, commissioned by the Beetham Organization, provides a series of inter-connecting plazas and streets around the business quarter, between the city’s Princes dock and eastbound Leeds-Liverpool canal. As well as providing shelter for pedestrians, the integrated art and architecture solution needed to assimilate the new Passport Office, Raddison Hotel and Tower apartments into the existing area.

Community consultation constituted a major element in the design process and, in keeping with Liverpool’s strong tradition as a gateway both from and to the rest of the world, the project aimed to consult as many ethnic groups as possible.

Poster and website campaigns, supported by interviews across the city, resulted in over 25 different ethnic cultures being physically represented in the artwork – a positive celebration of the city’s diversity.

The project has been rapidly adopted as a source of pride for Liverpudlians. Not only did they have significant input into the scheme, but the finished product has actually absorbed and recorded their stories for future generation.

Learning points:

The community

Halton Borough Council
Tom Hollick (Partner, BCA Landscapes)

//2004

case

Urban Policy > Urban environment > Urban renewal

City centre development