Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson will today reveal more details of the multi-million pound projects in the city’s North Docklands that could see the creation of 2,500 jobs over the next decade. Tony McDonough reports.
A music and theatre venue with a revolving auditorium will the centrepiece of a plan to turn Liverpool’s North Docks into a thriving commercial and digital hub.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson has today revealed more details of the multi-million pound Ten Streets plan that it is estimated could see the creation of 2,500 jobs over the next decade.
The new venue will be the UK’s first-ever Stage-Around Theatre, based on the hugely successful performance space in Amsterdam.
New vision
The Ten Streets vision was revealed at the Titanic Hotel, by Mayor Anderson to mark the start of a public consultation on the area’s future.
The Mayor told an audience of creative entrepreneurs and city stakeholders than the Ten Streets district represents “an opportunity of a lifetime to redefine Liverpool’s future as a creative powerhouse of the 21st century”.
Liverpool already has an established digital and creative hub in the Baltic Triangle just to the south of the city centre with more than 400 businesses – but space for further expansion there is limited.
The vision for the Ten Streets district, which contains a mix of historic dock warehousing and industrial buildings, is for an area where tech companies, digital businesses and creative enterprises can flourish alongside artistic organisations.
Other key elements include adding new squares and public spaces and making Ten Streets, which covers 125 acres of former dockland between the northern edge of the city centre and the landmark Tobacco warehouse at Stanley Dock, an exemplar neighbourhood for renewable energy.
‘Big Picture’
Ten Streets is part of the city’s “big picture” regeneration vision that will deliver £11bn investment and create 40,000 new jobs in total over the next 10 years.
As a creative economy district, Ten Streets will complement other employment areas like the Knowledge Quarter, Commercial District and Liverpool Waters.
The Ten Streets vision is being launched to engage local businesses, stakeholders and the wider public in a debate about the area’s future.
At this stage, there are no detailed proposals and work on a masterplan for Ten Streets will be informed by the ideas, comments and feedback generated during the month-long consultation campaign.
The starting point for the consultation are Ten Big Ideas, encompassing such themes as innovation, culture, growth, connections and collaboration, that will provide a broad direction for future policy and an emerging vision.
‘Opportunity of a lifetime’
Mayor Anderson said: “The launch of this vision for the Ten Streets district is an opportunity of a lifetime to define Liverpool’s future as a creative powerhouse of the 21st century.
“For me, this new theatre says everything about our ambition for Ten Streets and how the creative sector can unleash the untapped potential of these once celebrated docklands and make them once again a beacon of economic growth.”
Mayor Anderson was joined at the launch by Pat Power of Irish property company Harcourt Developments which is the city’s development partner on the project.
Harcourt has already delivered the Titanic Hotel and is on site with the redevelopment of the landmark Tobacco Warehouse at Stanley Dock.
Get involved
Two days of public consultation at the Titanic Hotel and at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology (FACT) will follow the launch with an exhibition on display outlining the key aims and ideas for Ten Streets.
The Ten Streets proposals can be seen at www.tenstreetsliverpool.co.uk and followed on Twitter via @TenstreetsL3
Visitors can view the exhibition on Friday, February 3 between 12 noon and pm and Sunday, February 5 between 10am and 4pm at the Titanic Hotel, Stanley Dock, Regent Road.
It will then move to FACT in Wood Street, where it will be open on Wednesday, February 8 and Friday, February 10 between 12 noon and 7pm.