Liverpool is set to reveal its reviewed tall buildings policy by the end of next month after Unesco threatened to take away its world heritage status.
A high level of development around Liverpool’s historic waterfront has led to Unesco putting the city on its at-risk register.
However, in a bid to fight back, the city has said it will come up with a new plan of action to ensure the £5.5bn Liverpool Waters development, which is being brought forward by Peel, will not endanger the city’s status.
The city council has commissioned a consultant to “prepare a robust evidence base and revisions to Policy UD6 Tall Buildings”.
Its current tall building policy requires towers to be accompanied by a townscape and visual impact assessment, an environmental impact assessment, a heritage impact assessment, a design and townscape analysis and a design review process.
A draft report on the city’s new tall buildings policy is expected to be delivered by the end of March.
The policy is clearly not tough enough for Unesco, however, which has threatened to revoke Liverpool’s heritage status based on over-development since 2012.
A number of towers have been approved since then, including Moda Living and Apache Capital Partners’ 34-storey tower in 2016, which was unveiled as the city’s tallest PRS tower.
Unesco has voiced “serious concerns” over Peel’s Liverpool Waters development. It has also slammed Everton Football Club’s plans to build a new 52,000-seat stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, claiming the consultation process for the project was “systematically excluding heritage concerns and conservation outcomes from incremental overdevelopment”.
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