CAIRNS Street has been nominated for the "Great Street" award in a prestigious national competition, just weeks after the Turner Prize turned its attention to the same row of terraces in Liverpool 8.
The shortlisting of Cairns Street, by the Academy of Urbanism, follows the Turner nomination for Assemble, the Granby 4 Streets architects who have worked on remodelling 10 houses there.
The street also hit the headlines last year when the first occupier of Mayor Joe Anderson's pioneering Homes for a Pound scheme moved into one of the many empty houses there.
Members of the Academy plucked out Cairns Street for "showing what is possible when passionate residents are able to implement their aspirations".
Awards given cover places, neighbourhoods and towns across the UK and Ireland as well as the one for individual streets. Cairns Street, off Granby, is up against London's Deptford High Street and Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork. The award will be announced in November at the Connaught Rooms in London.
It's not the first time the Academy has set Liverpool in its sights: Hope Street won the Great Street award in 2012
Full of greenery, creativity, and regular street markets
Cairns Street resident Hazel Tilley, part of the Community Land Trust currently working with other partners in the city to renovate the houses in the four remaining original Granby streets, said: “I’m delighted that Cairns Street has been nominated for this, which is not to take anything away from the good work being done in the other three Granby streets. But if this recognition helps with what we’re all trying to do here, and I think it will, then I’m all for it.”
In their nomination, The Academy of Urbanism said: "After several years of negotiations and canny political footwork the street has not just been saved from large-scale demolition, but is in the process of being refurbished by a range of organisations. When complete, the hope is that all of this comes together to make a street that is welcoming and attractive to all - full of greenery, creativity, and regular street markets. Showing what is possible when passionate residents are able to implement their aspirations for their street."
A visual from the Assemble scheme that is up for the Turner PrizeLiverpool City Council Deputy Mayor Councillor Ann O’Byrne said: “This nomination is yet more confirmation that people across the country are noticing that something very special is happening in Liverpool in the Four Streets, led as much by the people of these streets as anyone else. They’ve both suggested and helped to knit together the partnership of organisations, including the City Council, currently working to turn turning Granby into one of the most exciting places to live in the whole city.”
Organisations working in Granby 4 Streets with Liverpool City Council include Granby 4 Streets Community Land Trust, Steinbeck Studio, Terrace 21 Co-op, Plus Dane, Liverpool Mutual Homes plus several private individuals investing in their own homes having purchased them for £1 under the council’s Homes for a Pound pilot programme. More information at Granby 4 Streets CLT website.
