by Bethany Vann | 16 Oct 25 | Commercial Landscaping, Landscape Architecture, News
Construction has begun on Central Docks, a key neighbourhood within the larger Liverpool Waters regeneration project.
Civic leaders, project partners, and over 100 students were in attendance at the event, titled “From Foundations to Futures”, which celebrated the commencement of the £81m infrastructure works.
Spanning 26 acres, Central Docks is the largest of the five planned neighbourhoods, sitting at the centre of Liverpool Waters between the Hill Dickinson Stadium and the Liver Building.
Plans include the delivery of around 2,350 new homes, as well as a new five-acre green space, titled “Central Park”, which is being led by contractor GRAHAM.
Coming in at £71m, Central Park is positioned as the focal point of the new neighbourhood. It will see hundreds of new trees established to boost the areas biodiversity, in addition to new play areas, sports and creational facilities, and enhance walking and cycling routes to improve accessibility.
James Whittaker, managing director of Peel Waters – which is working in partnership with Homes England and Liverpool City Council to deliver the project – comments:
“The groundbreaking of Central Docks marks a pivotal moment not just for Liverpool Waters, but for the future of this iconic waterfront. This milestone is the result of years of collaboration with our partners across the public and private sectors, and it reflects our shared commitment to unlocking the full potential of these historic docklands.”
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool City Council, adds that Central Docks will “unlock new opportunities for employment, education and wellbeing through its green spaces and public realm.”
The wider Liverpool Waters masterplan, which spans 60 hectares and aims to reconnect the city with its historic waterfront.
Work on the Central Docks and Central Park is expected to be completed by late spring 2028.
by Holly Chapman | 10 Jun 25 | Landscape Architecture, News
Liverpool City Council appoints LDA Design to lead the St George’s Gateway regeneration masterplan.
Known as Liverpool’s cultural quarter, the 35-hectare site saw the demolition of the Churchill Way flyovers, encouraging current regeneration opportunities.
As part of a 10 year vision, the transformation intends to develop the public area, create new green space and improve transport links.
Plans also include developing a land-use strategy and setting out creative re-uses of unoccupied or under-used buildings.
Mark Graham, a director at LDA Design comments:
“The masterplan will need to work well for everyone; residents, students, visitors and local businesses.”
Working alongside Liverpool John Moores University and National Museums Liverpool, the team also includes Haworth Tompkins, WSP, Pegasus, Hatch, PLACED and AspinallVerdi.
by Aidan Williams | 06 Nov 24 | Commercial Landscaping, News
Homes England have made a £56 million investment to speed up the regeneration of Liverpool’s historic northern docklands, with final approval given by the HM Treasury.
The funding will support the creation of a new public park and vital infrastructure that will accommodate approximately 2,350 new homes.
It forms part of the government’s plans to build 1.5 million new homes across the UK in the next five years.
The investment by Homes England relates to Central Docks, the largest of five neighbourhoods within the emerging Liverpool Waters district.
Owned and masterplanned by waterside regeneration specialists Peel Waters, it extends over two kilometres along the banks of the river Mersey and has outline planning permission across 60 hectares.
The key infrastructure within the 10.5-hectare scheme, which comprises underground utilities, roads, pavements, public park, green spaces, and public amenities, will lay the groundwork for future investments.
With full planning approval for the site preparation work, the comprehensive plans for Central Docks include the creation of an interconnected network of public spaces.
The Central Docks neighbourhood alone is projected to attract over £550 million in private investment.
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, says: “The development of Central Docks, alongside the ongoing work to regenerate Bramley Moore and Bootle, has the potential to be a catalyst for growth and wider regeneration for great swathes of South Sefton and North Liverpool, creating jobs and attracting investment.
“The Central Docks site was identified in the Liverpool Strategic Advisory Panel’s final report as a site for potential development. The £56m we’ve received is an enormous statement of intent – on top of the £31m we secured for the city back in March this year.
“I’m delighted that the Treasury has given us the go-ahead for this investment, which promises to be a really significant development for our city region.”
Central Park’s design will celebrate the site’s industrial heritage and coastal location, blending coastal and woodland plantations, wetlands, and open parkland.
It has been a very busy week for Homes England, who have entered into a joint venture that plans to deliver 3,000 low-carbon, low-energy affordable homes.
by Bethany Vann | 06 Sep 23 | Landscape Architecture, News, Topics
British architecture firm BDP has put forward plans for more than 500 homes in Liverpool’s Love Lane, which will reuse part of the city’s existing “historic” brick railway arches.
Sources Developments and Network Rail have collaborated with BDP to put forward development plans for 507 homes built adjacent to the railway lines, north of the city centre.
Each of the four buildings will be capped at 11 storeys maximum and will contain an internal courtyard to support local community events and social activities. Development includes 147 one-bed units, 330 two-beds and 30 three-bed homes, with a 200-metre linear park connecting the buildings.
Rail archways and subterranean tunnels located on two of the plots will be repurposed to create 10,000 sq ft of commercial space, coherent with the areas already established architectural style, creating “a new piece of Liverpool’s pedestrian circuit by reusing historic brick railway arches,” says BDP architect director, Mark Braund.
“The heritage setting has informed the design of unique residential apartment buildings – picking up the railway and industrial warehouse uses of the adjacent docks and giving rise to high quality, dual aspect residential homes.
“It will be a wonderfully colourful and fantastic place for people to live and for people to visit, with a real sense of the city of Liverpool interwoven into the design.”
by Bethany Vann | 25 Aug 23 | Domestic Landscaping, Garden Design, News, Topics
An award-winning show garden from this year’s RHS Flower Show Tatton Park needs volunteers to help rebuild it at Clatterbridge Hospital in Liverpool, where it is being donated.
The Constructing Minds garden designed by Carolyn Harden and Jon Jarvis won Silver Gilt and Best Show Garden at Tatton, where it raised awareness for suicide rates in the construction industry.
Inspired by the Japanese practise of shinrin-yoku (‘forest bathing’), the belief that immersing in nature can have revitalising benefits, the garden is now being relocated to the hospital to afford patients and staff a space for “sanctuary” and “rejuvenation.”
Harden and Jarvis are looking for help from local suppliers to aid the gardens rebuild, as some of the materials used in the original garden were on loan for the show. Volunteers are also encouraged for the construction and replanting elements.
Works are set to begin early September this year, with the official opening scheduled for 29 September.
by Bethany Vann | 10 Aug 23 | Commercial Landscaping, Grounds Maintenance, Landscape Architecture, News, Topics
A new 24-acre recreational green space called the Southern Grasslands has opened in Liverpool. It was created in response to a remediation programme laying the foundations for a new housing scheme at the nearby Festival Gardens development site.
Situated three miles south of Liverpool city centre, Southern Grasslands is the largest transformed green space to open in the city this century. The site was previously a public waste disposal facility.
The space now features more than 5,700 new trees and shrubs, creating a new raised woodland meadow, forming an ecological corridor to boost the population of insects and pollinators and creating new habitats for the local wildlife.
Access to the space has been revitalised with additional shoreline access points and two kilometres of walking paths situated close to the shoreline implemented.
More than 95% of the 400,000m3 of soil and waste removed from the development zone has been recycled, including 100,000 m3 of soil, set to be repurposed into habitats for the local wildlife.
An additional £6m ground infrastructure programme has been delivered to lay drainage and construct a substation for the future housing development.
Funding for the works was procured through Liverpool City Council, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Homes England and OFGEM.
Laura Robertson-Collins, Liverpool city council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods, says: “The opening of the Southern Grasslands is a watershed moment in both the story of our famous Festival Gardens site and in Liverpool’s journey to tackle climate change.
“Liverpool is gaining not just a potential new housing scheme but a year-round recreational space which will also act as a huge new carbon sink and which will benefit our unique coastal bio-diversity for decades to come.”
