Liverpool Garden Festival Site

[scouserdave]

It's owned by Langtree McLean and apparently they've been rather naughty recently, chopping down trees without planning permission.

Ref: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/03/365765.html

[Kev]

A CYBERSPACE makeover reveals the dramatic transformation planned for the derelict site of Liverpool’s International Garden Festival.

The Otterspool site attracted more than 3m visitors in 1984, but has remained unused for years.

Developers Langtree McLean has teamed up with the Land Restoration Trust and the Mersey Waterfront agency to devise a restoration plan for the gardens.

They have produced a unique fly-through of the future site to give a sneak glimpse of what the gardens will look like in just a few years time.

The impressive display – which can be viewed on the Liverpool Daily Post website – takes viewers on a walk through of what will be Liverpool’s first major public park in 25 years.

The £250m redevelopment, a joint venture between Langtree McLean and the city council, will restore the site to its former glory, and provide hundreds of homes.

The developers have teamed up with the Land Restoration Trust and Mersey Waterfront to cultivate the stunning gardens, including the original Japanese and Chinese gardens.

The 56-acre park will be completely open with no fencing, allowing it to stretch from Riverside Drive directly onto Otterspool Promenade.

continues....

The latest Garden Festival Pictures as it appears now can be sen here

[AK1]

Thanks, Kev.
I suppose it'll be another gated development, then.
Hope that park is going to be public.

I see the estate on the Herculaneum Dock site has 3 fountains in it.
That's about the same number as the City Centre (if you count Williamson Square as 1).

Actually, no! It will be fully open to the public including the residential area. It's great to finally see a company opening up the city for the public and not gating everything.

[Jericho]

I can't find the fly-through on the Daily Post website. I vaguely recall seeing something a few months ago - is that what it is (looked like an out of town campus)?

[scouserdave]

Friends of Liverpool Monuments Civic Society has just opened a campaign page and yours truly is posing in the 1984 pic

[Kev]

Dave, isn't that one of those 'Pics that changed the World'?

As for the 2007 gallery, they are welcome to use mine: Here

[scouserdave]

Dave, isn't that one of those 'Pics that changed the World'?

As for the 2007 gallery, they are welcome to use mine: Here

LOL!
Kev, why don't you contact them and offer your pics? I know for sure, they'd love 'em.

[Kev]

I can't find the fly-through on the Daily Post website. I vaguely recall seeing something a few months ago - is that what it is (looked like an out of town campus)?

http://videos.icnetwork.co.uk/iclive...lands_park.wmv

[Jericho]

Thanks, Kev. It's good that it's not gated and I like the way it integrates with the promenade.

Not many shots of the residential development. What I saw seemed like a cross between JMU student accomodation and a hybrid south docks/ropewalks theme.

The viewing platform and some of the 'furniture' looked a bit tacky but that's probably just a product of the flythrough, the finished result will hopefully be better.

I wonder how locals in the St Michael's area will react to this latest promo? I might pop along to the meeting mentioned by scouserdave to find out.

[AK1]

This, along with the current improvements to otterspool promenade will make the entire area a great place to live and visit.

[Max]

Friends of Liverpool Monuments Civic Society has just opened a campaign page and yours truly is posing in the 1984 pic

Why did they have the one were you posing under a pot of flowers?

Technically your not wearing the flowers In your hair, otherwise you'd be a hippy.

[Kev]

Residents are opposing a £250m plan to redevelop the Liverpool International Garden Festival site.

Langtree McLean has submitted plans to demolish the derelict festival hall to make way for about 1,300 homes and restore 56 acres of grounds.

People living nearby are angry that a large number of the trees on the site have been cut down by the developer.

Langtree McLean said it was important to get the trees cleared before the start of the bird nesting season. continues.....

[Kev]

A DAY of protest was held at the destruction of an estimated 1,000 trees on the former Liverpool Garden Festival site.

People living nearby are furious at developer Langtree McLean’s removal of part of the woodland which has developed over the past two decades while the site has been unused.

Around 100 protesters took part and said the trees, which had been planted as saplings for the Garden Festival in 1984, had become a significant piece of woodland providing a home to 15 varieties of native or naturalised trees and more than 30 species of birds.

continues.....

[PhilipG]

The residents who live nearest to the Garden Festival site are by definition living on the first section of that site to be converted to housing.
It seems quite ironic that they are the first to complain, because without their houses the woodland would be even larger today.

[Kev]

JAPANESE experts could help transform Liverpool’s festival gardens.

The site will be split into five zones if they reopen to the public next summer.

Oriental gardeners are to be recruited to help revive the popular Chinese and Japanese gardens, which will join the main lake and spectacular waterfall.

Experts from Japan are likely to be drafted in for the highly-skilled operation, including creating an arboretum on the banks of the lake.

The two existing Chinese pavilions will be refurbished and joined by an extended viewing platform in the Japanese garden.

Langtree McLean will restore 65 acres of the overgrown complex if its £250m scheme to bring the much-loved site back into use is approved by councillors.

Experts have now split the huge site into five “character areas” as they prepare to start work, possibly this summer.

Langtree McLean is now waiting to find out if it will get planning permission from Liverpool council.

If successful, it intends to start work on the gardens this summer, with a finishing date of summer 2008.

The plans are facing opposition from dozens of residents angry at the developer’s decision to fell up to 1,000 trees so surveys could be carried out.

nick.coligan@liverpool.com