Kings Dock forms a key part of the city skyline and much of its transformation can be owed to a gig held in the summer of 2003.
After decades of seeing Liverpool’s port decline, Kings Dock and neighbouring Albert Dock were left derelict. The Albert Dock was eventually saved and successfully regenerated by the end of the 1980s but Kings Dock remained surrounded by vast open space.
For many years the land was used as a car park for people visiting the city centre. It also proved handy for pitching up the iconic tent for Liverpool’s loved but now lost Summer Pops concerts.
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In 1999, Liverpool Vision, one of the UK’s first regeneration companies that would eventually be brought in-house by Liverpool City Council, was formed and went on to produce a blueprint for Liverpool City Centre. It outlined key areas for development, such as improving the city’s shopping district and the benefits that would come from constructing an area - something Liverpool lacked when compared to rival cities.
The shopping centre improvements would eventually take the form of Liverpool ONE which was built following the Paradise Project. The development was a major overhaul of the land around Paradise Street and Chavasse Park and remains one of the most successful commercial developments in Liverpool City centre.
Plans to build an arena among other developments on Kings Dock had been gathering pace since the early 2000s. The site was once earmarked to be the home of a new stadium for Everton, but the plans never came to fruition - nor did the club's move to a potential new home in Kirkby.
But the idea for an events arena on the waterfront remained a key part of the Kings Dock development, even with Everton out of the picture in early 2003. And that summer was to provide a boost to the ambition for the project.
On June 1, 2003, Paul McCartney
returned to the city for a landmark gigon his Out There tour. The former Beatle played to thousands at Kings Dock where a temporary stage was erected.
The ECHO understands that then Council leader Mike Storey felt someone of McCartney’s stature shouldn’t have to play on a temporary stage when returning to Liverpool, highlighting the need for the multipurpose arena on the waterfront. Then on June 4, 2003 Liverpool was named European Capital of Culture for 2008.
The award provided extra money and determination to make the long held plans a reality, bringing a new found momentum to Liverpool’s waterfront in a matter of days. It was a project that was largely driven by Cllr Storey, Jim Gill, chief executive of Liverpool Vision, and Charlie Parker, David Henshaw and John Kelly from Liverpool Council.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, with fears the project could end up like the ill-fated Fourth Grace idea, but plans did progress with architects, Wilkinson Eyre, appointed in February 2004. Plans were amended slightly in the same year to construct a separate exhibition centre, something that was said to help with ensuring the development was ready in time for the 2008 celebrations.
Other developments on site later followed, including the exhibition centre, Pullman hotel and multi storey car park. Views from across the river are now filled by much of the work that has taken place at Kings Dock since the mid-2000s.
However, work around Kings Dock was not entirely completed and a number of vacant plots have remained. These are owned by Liverpool City Council after the land around the dock was acquired in a deal with English Partnership at the time the initial area project was being developed.
Last year, the council said it was looking to restart development work in the area. It noted how it would undertake the work with partner organisations through a new managed design approach.
Earlier this week Liverpool City Council named a new team to lead on the design process for the development of seven plots around Kings Dock. The appointment of Faithful+ and BDP as development managers and architects respectively, comes 15 years after the M&S Bank Arena opened on the same dock to officially launch Liverpool's year as the European Capital of Culture.
Liverpool City Council has now set a brief for the new team to follow these schemes by outlining a residential-led, mixed-use development of international standard in design and sustainability, with the potential for a major cultural and/or leisure venue.
As part of a two-year process, the Kings Dock Development Team will undertake investigations and review all existing surveys of the site, which includes the former car park which was demolished after a fire on New Year’s Eve in 2017.
The team will also be asked to create a masterplan and development programme, undertake extensive consultations with the local community and stakeholders before looking to secure outline planning permission, as well as marketing the opportunity to the highest quality and most aligned investors.
The City Council’s brief also requires the creation of a design code centred around an ecosystem-based approach which respects the heritage of the Dock, increases the overall biodiversity connectivity, and inclusivity of the waterfront.
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