A HUGE cruise liner terminal and hotel complex close to Waterloo Warehouse is earmarked for Liverpool Waters, as part of Peel’s plans for the transformation of the waterfront.
The new landing stage would be built in the River Mersey, just off the Central Docks system, linked to a 180,000 sq ft building that would house a cruise liner facility and hotel.
A special order from Parliament would be needed to allow a floating landing stage to be built in the river.
It would mean the city having two cruise terminals, the controversial, council-owned facility, close to the Pier Head, and this second terminal.
Peel already operates a terminal for cruises, at Langton Dock, close to a scrapyard, allowing them to start and finished in the dock system. The council-owned facility prohibits cruises from starting and finishing.
Peel’s proposals come as the wrangle over the status of the Princes Dock cruise terminal continues.
Southampton has led a campaign against the rules being relaxed to enable cruises to start and finish in Liverpool.
That can only happen if Liverpool repay around £11m it received in grants to cover the construction costs.
Meanwhile, people and organisations have until February 6 to lodge comments or objections to Peels proposals before the plan goes before the city council’s planning committee in March.
The scale of Peel’s proposals for what has been described as a “Shanghai-skyline” development are staggering, and represent probably the biggest ever planning application to go before the council.
Peel is seeking outline planning permission for Liverpool Waters. It means if councillors approve the plans, they will look at detailed schemes later for individual buildings.
The site spans over 60 hectares, most of it derelict dockland, but all within the city’s World Heritage site.
The proposals will create buildings totalling around 18 million square feet, essentially a mini-city on the banks of the Mersey.
To put it into context the whole of Liverpool One is a million square feet – multiply that by 18 and it gives a sense of what is proposed.
The expectation is it will create around 15,000 new jobs.
Peel envisage a start in 2012, with a 30-year building programme, finishing Liverpool Waters early in the 2040s.
Liverpool Waters - a 'bold and ambitious' plan....
9,000 apartments in buildings spanning well over seven million square feet.
Around 700 hotel beds.
13,600 car parking spaces, including 800 for disabled drivers.
Over 3m sq ft of commercial space
Shops, restaurants, bars
Liverpool’s tallest skyscraper – Shanghai Tower
One of the skyscraper clusters will centre around Central Docks, in a Central Park-style setting.
Peel in its application says the project will establish a sense of internationalism that is a crucial ingredient or Liverpool’s mercantile past. The plans, it says, are 'bold and ambitious'.
The scheme has already put Peel, and the city council on a collision course with cultural campaigners wanting to protect the historic dockland.
The World Heritage Committee of Unesco will also be scrutinising the scheme to determine if it is compatible with Liverpool’s World Heritage Site.
