Access all areas: a new city heart for Liverpool
The choice of a single development partner has been a fundamental driver in the success of a retail-led mixed-use development in Liverpool. The Paradise Project was planned to create a new, easily accessible city centre.
Juliana O’Rourke speaks with Capita Symonds’ Peter Mynors, transport advisor to the project at the pre-construction stage
The £920 million Liverpool One retail-led scheme by Grosvenor will ‘create a new heart for Liverpool city centre’ says Colin Hilton, former Chief Executive, Liverpool City Council. Appreciating the complexity of a project on this scale, the city council chose Grosvenor as its development partner on the basis of a winning competition entry in 2000. The original site was run-down and under-used, being one of the last major city centre sites in Britain still awaiting redevelopment following World War II. The new development’s streets and walkways will link the city’s cultural area around the Bluecoats arts building, the Rope Walks heritage quarter, the Albert Dock leisure area and the existing retail area of Church Street.
The city council made the site available to the developers on a 250-year lease. The land is held in public ownership, and compulsory purchase powers were used to acquire the necessary multiple land parcels. Capita Symonds has acted as transport advisor to the project from the competition stage through to conceptual masterplanning and detailed planning of individual sites, including the presentation of inquiry evidence.
In the early stages of the project, the team paid special attention to the city’s pedestrian connectivity. Traffic flow data indicated, along with the expected peaks in the morning and early evening rush hours, a fair amount of spare capacity during the day – although the roads will be getting busier as other development resulting from the city’s new-found confidence proceed. The site’s rail connections are excellent. There are few cities outside London with an underground railway system serving the central area – and the project site. About 160 buses an hour were heading to the bus station on the site, although these buses were very lightly loaded. For shopping trips, at least 10 passengers per bus are typically needed to make the CO2 emissions per passenger kilometer lower than car travel. By increasing bus load factors, sustainability objectives would be met.
An initial concern at the planning stages was that additional parking spaces would lead to an unacceptable traffic increase. However evidence presented at the project public inquiry into the Compulsory Purchase and Road Closure Orders in 2003 showed that the main effect would be to make existing shoppers stay longer. People have a ‘travel time budget’ – the number of hours that they spend travelling per year – and this is an important statistic to understand. Compared to 1973, the number of travel hours per year per person in the UK has not changed. Only the distance travelled has increased. This suggests that people will travel further to go a destination, for example in Liverpool, that has a good offer, but that this longer trip will replace other trips. The inquiry’s successful outcome allowed the property acquisition necessary for development to begin.
The masterplan: private space, public access
The scheme creates new ‘high streets’ within the city centre. The area will essentially become a street-crossed retail and leisure zone with, in addition, nearly 500 residential units, hotels, and a new bus station
The scheme creates new ‘high streets’ within the city centre. The area will essentially become a street-crossed retail and leisure zone with, in addition, nearly 500 residential units, hotels, and a new bus station
An initial concern at the planning stages was that additional parking spaces would lead to an unacceptable traffic increase. However, evidence showed that the main effect would be to make existing shoppers stay longer.
The Capita Symonds team worked closely with masterplanners BDP. The resulting design was a team effort, with the Paradise Street area transformed into a pedestrian zone, with car parking and a manned cycle park underneath. The newly-created urban green space sits on top of the main 2,000 space underground car park. The difference in ground levels across the site has facilitated this, and enables disabled drivers to park closer to their final destination than with conventional pedestrianisation schemes. The design and location of the current bus station differs from the way it was originally conceived. The original planning application had a Hammersmith-style layout with a central passenger concourse. The interchange as built evolved as a result of input from Merseytravel, and was designed to fit with the proposed Merseytram when funding can be secured
Dwell time and traffic flow : much has been made in the press of the 3,000 car parking spaces that have been created for this development. Originally, there were about 2,000 spaces on the site. Analysis indicated that the typical ‘dwell time’ of shoppers parking at retail centres rises consistently with the retail space available. But this doesn’t necessarily mean a pro-rata increase in car trips. For an increase in floorspace and carparking of 5 per cent, peak traffic flows only rise by 1.3 per cent. Each parking space turns over less often, with the result that there are fewer trips per parking space per hour (chart on the left)
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The Paradise Project, the development vehicle for Liverpool One, is managing the 42-acre regeneration, including the creation of the five-acre urban green park
Six districts and A TRAVEL INTERCHANGE
- Paradise Street: a wide avenue for pedestrians flanked by retail. Pavement cafes and leisure activities planned
- Hanover Street: planned street market and residential use
- Peter’s Lane: two new squares, narrow streets and traditional arcades
- South John Street: traditional retail on two levels
- The Park: on the site of the existing Chavasse Park, the new park will link with the Waterfront and Albert Dock.
- Below the park will be 2000 underground parking spaces with entrances from Strand Street, with direct access into the shopping area.
- Travel interchange: Completed November 2005. A new public transport hub giving a point of arrival into the city centre as well as the waterfront
