Liverpool One [Paradise Street] Shopping Area [Under Construction]

[Paul D]

That picture's boss.

[Kev]

18th June 2007

[A.D.W]

Good pictures and coming on a treat, Kev.

From a week or so when we had sun.

[Kev]

The park area is starting to take shape

[iain]

Yes the western half of the park is getting bulked up with soil now, and there's two pathways in place (one slope, one with steps). I'll try and get some photos this week.

In the same area there's a new tower crane, but it doesn't look like it's secured in the ground like the rest - it's on a splayed-out base with huge concrete blocks keeping it down. You wouldn't get me up that one on a windy day

[Kev]

FIRE crews raced to the multi-million pound Grovesnor development in Liverpool city centre this morning after a blaze broke out in a lift shaft. more

[Paul D]

It was put out in less than 15 minutes so nothing too serious thankfully.

[iain]

That link's not working Kev

[Kev]

That link's not working Kev

not another link, its my browsers fault, bloody firefox

[iain]

We believe you, nothing to be said about a workman and his tools

I think this is what we're after

God knows how I didn't see any of it myself. Must have been concentrating too hard on work.

[iain]

I wouldn't have thought there'd be much to burn in that part of it at the moment, just concrete...

[Kev]

IT WAS a world first – and launched Liverpool on the road to supremacy as the main port of the British Empire.

This week, the original Liverpool Dock, exposed for the first time in more than two centuries, will be buried beneath a concrete cover.

It will remain as a timewarp to a bygone age, though a large section of the dock will be retained for future generations to explore.

A large glass-covered opening will enable visitors to the new £1bn Gros-venor Liverpool One development to gaze down into the city’s past history.

Researchers, academics and archeologists will be given limited access to the old dock.

Grosvenor’s Project Director Rod Holmes hopes one day funding will be found to re-open the huge dock giving visitors the chance to explore Liver-pool’s history from its foundations.

When the Duke of Westminster’s company, Grosvenor, was given per-mission to build more than a million square feet of shops and leisure facil-ities, a condition was that archaeol-ogists would have to examine the site.

A team has been excavating the site and remarkably discovered the origi-nal brick walls of the old dock.

Mr Holmes added: “This work has been very costly – far more than we had ever anticipated, but it has helped us reveal a hidden part of Liverpool’s tremendous maritime history.

“A large area will be preserved for all time and visitors will see some-thing of Liverpool from the 1700s. This dock was the single most important factor in the rapid rise in Liverpool’s fortunes as a sea port.”

Sarah Jane Farr, Merseyside archaeological officer, said: “The revealing of the original Liverpool dock is of national and international significance. We can learn a lot from the archaeological work, even micro-scopically examining the residues to discover more about life in Liverpool in the 1700s. We have had a team from Oxford working on the dig and the extent of the intact dock system was beyond our dreams. It will be covered to make way for the Grosvenor development, but it will not be lost.”

A lengthy report of the discoveries beneath the streets of Liverpool is to be published at a future date.

The final days of the dock’s open aspect was filmed by a team from the Time Team TV series, who have recorded an episode for the popular programme fronted by Blackadder’s Baldrick – otherwise known as actor Tony Robinson.

larryneild@icliverpool.com

[chippie]

Thanks for that Kev, I was wondering what was happening there.

[chippie]

Does anyone know what is the present situation on the Manchester Dock lock gates.

[Kev]

GROSVENOR has revealed it will spend more than £1m on security at its Paradise Street development next year – but critics last night said it could still not be enough. Read

THE £920m Grosvenor development in Paradise Street is one of the biggest such schemes in Europe. After such a colossal investment in the city, one might think that every effort would be made to protect it. Read