Historic dock and warehouse
Some construction sites were paused or abandoned
That theme continues here on the south side. So let's take a look at our first scheme and it seems healthy and it's heading towards completion. It's The Vaults on St James Street, just opposite the Catholic church St Vincent de Paul. This is the eastern edge of the Baltic Triangle and this building offers over 60 one and two bedroom apartments for rent to buy as well as 10 retail units.
Developer Torus states that it's important to provide people with the opportunity to live in areas that might otherwise be too expensive. Architects are Brock Carmichael. The Rent to Buy scheme has a lot of rules and regulations and you have to fulfil certain criteria. It's different from the shared ownership scheme, quite complicated, so check out the details first. I'm not going to go into detail here, as ever, I like to give an overview. If we go up to the top of St James Street near the junction with Parliament Street, we see our next project, Parliament Square. It's been under construction for a while and it's a big, impressive building that stands out on the skyline. One of the most unusual features is a swimming pool which will be situated on the 17th floor.
It was lifted up into place by a crane in March 2021. Needless to say, the views over the city, the river, the Wirral and the Welsh mountains are going to be very impressive. I'd love to go up there myself and photograph them. There's a penthouse which was placed on the market for 1,5 million pounds and the prices for other apartments in Parliament Square are said to be around 94 000 pounds and upwards. There will also be a public plaza with shops, a residents-only gym and other leisure facilities. The pool is part of those facilities and is only open to residents and their guests, so maybe I'll get an invitation sometime. This development is yet another addition to Liverpool's Baltic Triangle district, the former industrial area, closely connected with the port. Actually, there is still some industry in the Baltic Triangle, alongside music venues, residential blocks, converted warehouses, the Love Lane brewery, bar and kitchen and my favourite pub in Liverpool, the Baltic Fleet.
And now we proceed to our next location, just a few steps away from Chinatown, overlooked by the. Anglican Cathedral. From the Chinese arch, we walk directly south along Great Georges Street and there it is on the right, New Chinatown. The only problem is, it's a derelict site, an empty space, a project that stalled and was never completed. The east side of the site has a long frontage along Great George Street. There's a very long fence covered in very nice graffiti art. It reminds me a little of East Side Gallery in Berlin, where artists spray-painted artworks along a section of the former Berlin Wall on the Eastern side. Here's the view from the Anglican Cathedral and we can see how the neighbouring streets form triangular sections on the western edge of the site.
About halfway down, there's a hole in the fence. Anybody can walk through and witness the dereliction for themselves. Again, shades of the Berlin Wall just after reunification.
So how did this come about? The
Story is too complicated to tell in detail, and i recommend going online and doing a search for new chinatown and you'll find reports on the liverpool echo and place northwest sites, as well as others.
Suffice to say, it started around 2015 with ambitious plans for a big new development including a large number of apartments, a hotel, shops, restaurants and lots more. Local people invested money, but then it stalled, there were all kinds of financial problems, a company went bust, investors feared they would lose their money, there was talk of fraud. In an article published on the 21st of November 2021, the Liverpool Echo revealed: A receiver for Cambridge and Counties Bank has been appointed to the Great George Street Project Limited. GGSD has not begun any physical works on site.
The company has debts of £14m. Liverpool Council is still owed around £950k plus interest. Buyers are still owed around £6m. GGSD and parent company The Great George Street Project Ltd are late in filing their accounts. And so it goes on. And they also mention that Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council has spoken out. He urged the council's director of regeneration to intervene. He also said: "The site blights the appearance of the city to tourists and potential visitors alike.
". Well, you can say that again! It's complicated. It's a nightmare. Instead of bringing the benefits of regeneration, extending economic activity south of the city centre, helping to build a new identity to this very important area between Liverpool Cathedral and the Baltic Triangle and also showcasing the city's long-established Chinese community and its culture, the site is just rotting away.
Why does this keep happening in Liverpool? I'm not an expert and I'm not an insider. I'm just the guy who walks around with a camera, gathering the evidence I see with my own eyes. That's why I call myself AidanEyewitness, but if anyone can shed any light on the theme of. Building Bust in Liverpool, please get in touch via the comments.
Okay, so let's get out of here now and travel a little way south of the city, down by the River Mersey. We are in the attractively named district of Dingle. Along here runs the riverside path, great for walking and cycling and as ride north, I can see signs of positive new development, a building of striking architectural design, with a stepped appearance. I featured it in my Liverpool Cathedral Views article. In fact it's just next to the large Chinese restaurant that stands on the waterfront. This building is called Herculaneum Quay and it's named after Herculaneum Dock. The building stands next to the former entrance to the dock, which was closed many years ago and filled in. Houses stand on the site today.
There was a station on the Liverpool Overhead Railway called Herculaneum. It was just a few steps away from the building. It's very striking, designed by Edge Architects Liverpool and has 17 storeys. But if we look into the background to this building, we find the same story as before. Ambitious plans, early construction which then stalled after the collapse of a company.
Local investors were in fear of losing
Large amounts of money, and for many years, the building was just a metal framework.
But to cut a long story short,
A rescue plan was drawn up and the building is now nearly completed.
This is an upmarket development with 120 luxury apartments, not quite as high as others but high enough to provide very attractive views along the river.
And again, I'd love to see the interior of these apartments and capture the views from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Residents will enjoy access to a private spa pool and relaxation area, exclusive gym and secure underground parking. Architects are Falconer Chester Hall. So if you like riverside walks and cycle rides and enjoy Chinese food, this is a great location. It's a shame the Liverpool Overhead Railway is not there to provide a fast connection to the city centre and back. It's interesting how these futuristic, upmarket new developents are appearing in the midst of former industrial sites. The history of Herculaneum Dock looks to be interesting, so why not look it up on Wikipedia. And not far to the south, just a quick look at these new houses that are being built on part of the former Garden Festival site.
Personally, I find the tall apartment buildings more interesting architectural ly but this is an important development, that's finally utilising a site that's been vacant for years. Now we return to the Baltic Triangle area to take a look at a building that was completed a couple of years ago. Here, next to the Coburg pub, named after Coburg Dock, is X1 The Terrace and on the corner of Parliament St, X1 the tower, designed by Falconer Chester Hall. It's 77 metres high, it has 25 storeys and nearly 200 apartments. There's a so-called lantern at the top. And needless to say, another great viewpoint which I would love to visit and photograph from myself. Next to X1 The Tower is X1 The Studios, which offers student accommodation. And then we have the Parliament Residence scheme and here again, there have been problems.
This second phase of the Parliament Residence scheme offers one and two-bedroom flats, but unfortunately, the project had to be rescued for similar reasons to the ones I mentioned before. So let's hope this and all the other stalled projects around the city can be brought back on track and completed. Finally let's go a short distance to see One Baltic Square. I saw this large project under construction from the Cathedral Tower. It's located on Grafton Street, not far from the former Cains Brewery, which is now Cain's y Village with workspaces, venues for the independent thinkers, makers and innovators to start brewing their ideas. That quote comes from the breweryvillage.com website. One Baltic Square is currently under construction and it consists of a number of apartment blocks. Right now the buildings don't actually reflect how they will appear finally.
To see that, we need to take a look at the project website, where there are some visualisations of how the project is going to look when it's finished. As you can see, the exterior will be clad in brickwork, echoing the historic dock and warehouse buildings nearby. It's reported that in 2021, Nexus Developments bought the project from YPG developments after they went into administration. I mentioned that company in my Liverpool Building Boom 2021 article. One Baltic Square is priced at 50 million pounds and includes one, two and three-bedroom apartments. There will be a public piazza as well as underground car parking. It's a major project and will have a big effect on this part of Liverpool. It's within a short walking distance of the Baltic Triangle and the city centre is not far beyond.
To the south is celebrated Florence Institute. These new developments are changing the character of Liverpool, often beyond recognition. Some have stalled and I'm curious to find out why, so suggestions in the comments, please. I hope you found this article interesting, maybe even inspiring.