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Thread: Liverpool Scraps Tall Building Policy

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    Default Liverpool Scraps Tall Building Policy

    LIVERPOOL City Council has scrapped its controversial tall buildings policy.

    The decision to do away with the policy will be welcome news to the city's major property developers who have been highly critical of the way it has been implemented.

    News about the decision to scrap the policy emerged in a podcast interview given by council leader Warren Bradley to the Liverpool Daily Post's new website, Thebusinessweek.co.uk, which launches today.

    In it, Cllr Bradley describes the tall buildings policy, which sought to restrict the construction of skyscrapers to certain parts of the city, as "a mistake".

    It was introduced in December, 2004, and was meant to promote tall buildings in only three clusters around the city.

    A number of tall building plans have been rejected since, much to the anger of developers.

    Cllr Bradley said: "Nowhere has a tall buildings policy. What we have is guidance. If a planning application is received, it is dealt with on its merits.

    "It's not about somebody who doesn't like tall buildings so you're not going to get it.

    "I think it was a mistake. If you want to be a progressive, proactive city you can't have a ridiculous policy that says you can't have this and you can't have that."

    Cllr Bradley also pledged to reform the city's complex array of inward investment and business support agencies. There are about 30 such agencies operating on Merseyside and Cllr Bradley said he had started discussions to streamline that number down to just two agencies within 12 months.

    Cllr Bradley's full interview on the subject of whether Liverpool is really business friendly can be heard and downloaded at www.thebusinessweek.co.uk

    Cllr Bradley said some council officials had in the past become dictatorial and he also promised to pursue a policy of turning Liverpool into one of the most business-friendly cities in Britain.

    The scrapping of the tall buildings policy has been welcomed by business lobby group Downtown Liverpool in Business, which has campaigned against it for 18 months.

    DLIB chairman Frank McKenna said: "We always said it was a daft idea and unworkable. It makes me wonder why these policies are ever dreamed up in the first place. Having a tall buildings policy is possibly even against the law.

    "Let's not forget that we had two rounds of consultations on this and then planning officers had to spend a lot of time trying to make it work. So how much has this cost us?"

    billgleeson@dailypost.co.uk

    Plans for skyscrapers never got off the ground

    DEVELOPERS have tried to build a number of skyscrapers in Liverpool over recent years but without much success.

    One of the most contentious has been Maro's plans for a 500ft tower at Brunswick Quay, which would have been the tallest in the city.

    The 51-storey building, with two smaller 10 storey blocks, has been rejected twice by the city's planning committee on advice from officials.

    Developers are also still hoping to build a glass skyscraper behind Lime Street station but the signs are not looking good.

    Chieftain Construction wants to build a 32-storey tower containing a 160-bedroom hotel and about 150 apartments.

    But councillors rejected the application last summer, saying it would clash with a tower planned as part of a redevelopment of the outside of the station.

    In March, the firm tried to have the Lime Street development quashed but failed in London's High Court. It will still try to get the go-ahead for its own proposal, at a car park site in Skelhorne Street.

    The 1,000ft Otterspool Tower, dubbed "The Scousescraper", was to be the tallest building in Europe when the project was launched a decade ago.

    Construction company Wiggins, claimed it would create 6,000 jobs, with the knock-on effect leading to as many as 30,000 more around the city but later dropped the plans.

    Wayne Colquhoun, from Liverpool Preservation Trust, has called for the council to come up with a new comprehensive set of rules of skyscrapers to protect the city's skyline.

    He said: "I'm not against modern buildings but it is vital that they are built in the right place.

    "We need a strategy that very clearly sets out where developments can be built.

    "We cannot let our landscape be ruined by glass and steel buildings which have no architectural merit."
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    THERE will be many developers breathing a sigh of relief at the news today that Liverpool City Council has decided to rethink its policy on tall buildings. more
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    Couldn't resist:

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    Default Tall Stories

    I don't know who I'm responding to but I've just been flipping through the e-mails here and it’s now December 2006. So is there still any hope we may see tall - I mean REALLY TALL…! - buildings going up anytime soon in downtown Liverpool…??? ‘Cos, if so, I'll just bet that even now there’s some evil anti-Scouse sonova-***** out there determined to castrate Liverpool’s hopes of entertaining ideas above its station - like skyscraper-building, or any return to big-city-(dumb…?) whatsoever - before you can say “Three Graces”…!!!

    Frankly, over the years, I’ve grown sick'n' tired of hearing about grandiose schemes to build huge glass and steel towers along the Mersey waterfront, only for just about every scheme to vanish like ice at a Bar-Bee... Usually turned down by some busy-body group, or other, seemingly convinced that the good folks of Liverpool would be much better served with no new erections permitted - higher than maybe a multi-story ducking stool, or two - EVER to be built, ANYWHERE in the city - within ten miles of the Pierhead... And, oh yes, of course... early-closing on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Speke Airport - (Sorry…! John Lennon)…!

    John Jay

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    Quote Originally Posted by TruthHurts View Post
    I don't know who I'm responding to but I've just been flipping through the e-mails here and it’s now December 2006. So is there still any hope we may see tall - I mean REALLY TALL…! - buildings going up anytime soon in downtown Liverpool…??? ‘Cos, if so, I'll just bet that even now there’s some evil anti-Scouse sonova-***** out there determined to castrate Liverpool’s hopes of entertaining ideas above its station - like skyscraper-building, or any return to big-city-(dumb…?) whatsoever - before you can say “Three Graces”…!!!



    Frankly, over the years, I’ve grown sick'n' tired of hearing about grandiose schemes to build huge glass and steel towers along the Mersey waterfront, only for just about every scheme to vanish like ice at a Bar-Bee... Usually turned down by some busy-body group, or other, seemingly convinced that the good folks of Liverpool would be much better served with no new erections permitted - higher than maybe a multi-story ducking stool, or two - EVER to be built, ANYWHERE in the city - within ten miles of the Pierhead... And, oh yes, of course... early-closing on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Speke Airport - (Sorry…! John Lennon)…!

    John Jay
    There is still hope, quite alot of it actually!! Brunswick tower may still go-ahead, there is the proposed king edward tower on the site of the king edward pub, princess dock tower on plot 3a and the complete transformation of the north docks which will include a number of talls, 50+ storeys. Don't give up hope yet!!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by AK1 View Post
    There is still hope, quite alot of it actually!! Brunswick tower may still go-ahead,
    The tower was refused after the policy was scrapped. A hope and a prayer that it will be built. If it goes ahead it will be the Brunswick Stump.

    there is the proposed king edward tower on the site of the king edward pub, princess dock tower on plot 3a and the complete transformation of the north docks which will include a number of talls, 50+ storeys. Don't give up hope yet!!!!
    50+ tall on the north end docks? A World Heritage Site? The best option was the south end docks away from the WHS. One was proposed but turned down.

    I can't see any real tall buildings being built at Liverpool. The big money after Brunswick Tower will not even look at the place now. Both barrels into the feet.
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    Has anyone actually come out and stated that a particular area is suitable for taller structures? Or do we assume the cluster at and around Princess Dock is all we can get?
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    Couldn't resist:
    Cheers Kev! I get to see a Playstation 3 all day in work and now I have to put up with one on this site too

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jona76 View Post
    Cheers Kev! I get to see a Playstation 3 all day in work and now I have to put up with one on this site too
    Nice one, do you work for Sony then?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kev View Post
    Nice one, do you work for Sony then?
    My eldest lad was whooping for joy a couple of weeks back when he received a freebie Playstation. He reviews games online and is always getting promo copies through the post, then sells them on Ebay. I presume it's the PS3, because he only recently had his PS2 chipped when he was in Manila. The last time I played "games" was Doom

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    Quote Originally Posted by scouserdave View Post
    My eldest lad was whooping for joy a couple of weeks back when he received a freebie Playstation. He reviews games online and is always getting promo copies through the post, then sells them on Ebay. I presume it's the PS3, because he only recently had his PS2 chipped when he was in Manila. The last time I played "games" was Doom
    does he games test from home then? i could do that
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kev View Post
    does he games test from home then? i could do that
    He's been doing it for a couple of years. There's a forum for pro gameplayers, invitation only. He somehow managed to get on there. Once on there, he just blagged. I'll have to get him to join Yo' to explain himself. He loves Liverpool.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Waterways View Post
    The tower was refused after the policy was scrapped. A hope and a prayer that it will be built. If it goes ahead it will be the Brunswick Stump.



    50+ tall on the north end docks? A World Heritage Site? The best option was the south end docks away from the WHS. One was proposed but turned down.

    I can't see any real tall buildings being built at Liverpool. The big money after Brunswick Tower will not even look at the place now. Both barrels into the feet.
    Just wait and see! Don't be so negative! If they start refusing them, then you can get negative. Just be positive for now and hope that the planners begin to see sense sometime soon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by AK1 View Post


    Just wait and see! Don't be so negative! If they start refusing them, then you can get negative. Just be positive for now and hope that the planners begin to see sense sometime soon.
    The only hope if that Maro pull some strings and take it to the House of Lords and/or the EU. If they fail forget high quality investment in buildings. Just more of the same 4 floor tat that litters the city.

    If Maro exhaust all avenues then it is bye, bye for quality investment. If I was a developer with 150 million to spend I would not be looking at Liverpool if Maro get the push.

    Just look at the time and money Maro have spent. They are probably thinking we should have built in Leeds and it would have been finished by now.

    They are left with a small dockside site which can't maximise its potential. Be prepared for a 4 to 8 floor anytown, anywhere, bland stump and Maro and others to forget Liverpool for ever.

    Top architects now don't like taking commissions for Liverpool as they know there is a 90% chance of nothing happening. They like their ideas to come to fruition, not just be models and renders. So far at least two of the world's top architects have had proposals in Liverpool turned down.
    The new Amsterdam at Liverpool?
    Save Liverpool Docks and Waterways - Click

    Deprived of its unique dockland waters Liverpool
    becomes a Venice without canals, just another city, no
    longer of special interest to anyone, least of all the
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    canals to view its modern museum describing
    how it once was?


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    I'm thinking you're being overly downcast about the situation here. I know the Brunswick objections were officially after the 'no talls' policy was scrapped but there were still a lot of lingering politics from that in the air...

    I think the situation's clarified since then somewhat. Bradley seems fairly clear about what these developments can do for the city, and I believe the Maro issue will only help concentrate minds for the future...

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