UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, has called on the Peel Group to revise its £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme in order to protect the city’s World Heritage status.
In a report published following UNESCO’s mission to Liverpool last November, the agency said that the 14m sq ft office-led development would “irreversibly damage” the profile of the city’s famous waterfront by creating a cluster of skyscrapers that would dwarf the area’s historic buildings.
UNESCO has called upon Peel, the city council and English Heritage to work out plans for a revised scheme.
It said: “The mission concludes that if the proposed Liverpool Waters scheme as outlined during the mission would be implemented, the World Heritage property would be irreversibly damaged, due to a serious deterioration of its architectural and town-planning coherence, a serious loss of historical authenticity, and an important loss of cultural significance.
“It strongly recommends that the three principal stakeholders, being Liverpool city council, Peel Holdings and English Heritage, reconvene around the table and work out an adjusted scheme that includes the observations put forward in this report.”
The row began last July when UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee expressed its “extreme concern” about the project and threatened to review Liverpool’s status as a World Heritage Site during 2012.
A public consultation on Liverpool Waters is underway and planners are expected to make a decision on the scheme in March.
Liverpool council leader Joe Anderson said: “I welcome the findings of the World Heritage report and it is really encouraging that they are pressing for a compromise that would enable Liverpool Waters to go ahead.
“I have always believed there is a way forward which will allow us to redevelop the North Liverpool Docks and secure the massive investment and badly needed new jobs, and to also preserve our World Heritage status. Peel have already made significant alterations to their proposals since drawing up the original plans.”
Peel could not be reached for comment.
daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com
