Central Village | Bold Street | 76m/61m | 25/20 floors

[design_man]

Originally Posted by buggedboy

Thankfully, it will be put to death.

I think its a beautiful building. Is it 50s?

[Martin S]

Originally Posted by buggedboy

Thankfully, it will be put to death.

Maybe old age has made me sentimental about any building about to meet its maker but Villiers Terrace did a very good defense of this building a few years back.

It is typical of 50s design with its use of exposed concrete canopies and patent glazing with the coloured infill panels.

It isn't one of my favourite buildings and I don't want to see it listed but I do have a fondness for buildings of the 50s / 60s era that are nowadays so unloved.

[Martin S]

Originally Posted by buggedboy

Liverpool Central Station it was announced today, will close next year between April & August to make way for vast improvements.


Set to include platform expansion, retail expansion and a new glass ceiling and walls, the busiest underground station outside London will become a vibrant exciting entrance to the RopeWalks area and the new Central Village scheme.


Central Village includes the Lewis's building and the areas between Bold Street and Renshaw Street, formerly the site of the old overground Liverpool Central Station. This was demolished in 1973. For more information on the Overground station, click here.

The Station will now have an additional 2 upper floors offering places to relax and unwind.


The figure of the regeneration is expected to be £20m for Central station – which has been highlighted as "no-longer fit for purpose" by Merseyrail and Network rail chiefs.


During the construction work there will be shuttle busses running between the other central Underground Stations. These too are being transformed with an additional £20 million pounds.


Network rail is providing a huge part of the regeneration money. Additional escalators and lifts will also be installed, as well as toilet facilities being upgraded.


It was decided that because of the vastness of the improvements, the Station would not be able to function as normal during construction. It is yet to be seen what how this will affect trade in the area, but with a more attractive offering going forward it is certain that there will be a positive impact felt.
http://www.ropewalksliverpool.com/bl...transformation

That will certainly be £20m well spent, in my opinion.

Bugged, Surely some of the money for the new concourse and escalators into Central Village will come from Merepark? I would expect that the £20 million from Network Rail will be mainly aimed at improving passenger capacity and facilities rather than giving it a new entrance to serve a retail development.

[buggedboy]

I agree. It also appears that one floor of Central is already under offer. See page 4.

http://www.centralvillageliverpool.c...php/floorplans

[woody]

:

Originally Posted by Martin S

It isn't one of my favourite buildings and I don't want to see it listed but I do have a fondness for buildings of the 50s / 60s era that are nowadays so unloved.

Not a favorite, but I will always remember this building as Kellys Tool shop.
As a young "snotty nose apprentice joiner" back in the 60`s, this was a mecca
for tools, the best in town...it sold the sweetest hammers

[woody]

Does this revised planning application, mean that this proposed building is
scrapped ??

http:

[yoshef]

Originally Posted by baias

Thanks

There is a particularly beautiful building, the Kunar Bros Stores one, in a great cornerside up there......can`t anybody do something about it? Once upon a time there must have been a beauty planted there before that thing from outer space, more akin to Khartoum, Bucharest or Cairo, was constructed, that is for sure.......

It has recently been refurbished :-

image hosted on flickr



How it used to look -

image hosted on flickr


Copyright Ronramstew

[Chris B]

Originally Posted by woody

Does this revised planning application, mean that this proposed building is scrapped ??

I think the new applications may be because, as far as I can see on the Planning Explorer, the originally approved applications have now lapsed, as over three years have passed since their approval on 22nd May 2008.

However, it looks like Merepark have taken the opportunity to make changes to the plans as detailed below.

The originally approved applications stated the following -

To carry out external alterations, including the demolition and rebuilding of the rear elevation and the addition of an extra storey at roof level in connection with the conversion of the building and the redevelopment of adjoining land into a hotel, with restaurant/cafe, conference facilities, bar, gym and car parking

To erect a 174 bedroom, multi-storey hotel with restaurant/cafe (A3), bar (A4), gym (D2), conference facilities (D2) and car parking in association with the conversion of the adjoining Watson Building

While the new applications both state -

To make alterations and extend watson building, demolish rapid paint store, use B1 with ancillary basement car park and retail units (A1, A2, A3,A4 and A5) at ground floor

Recent form on the Planning Explorer has been for a basic description of the proposals to appear before a more detailed description is added a little while later. However based on what is there, we can see that at the very least Merepark have decided to add some retail units on the ground floor.

Hopefully when the Planning Explorer updates, we'll get a clearer idea of what the new plans entail, but I do hope the original design hasn't been altered too much, as I quite like the 'untidy stack' design of the original plans.

[buggedboy]

Me too. Renshaw St really needs a larger, modern building to give it gravitas. The "stack" building gave it that, which with the best will in the world, the current Renshaw St buildings (including Central Hall) do not.

In fact, I'd be happy to pretty much do away with most of Renshaw St and start again. Even refurbished and cleaned up, the 3 storey buildings along there scream undeveloped, small town.

[baias]

thank you, yosef

I can see that the bdg has been improved, but I wished that corner was further enlivened, via flags, banners, sunshades.....I very much like the look of the streets of NY with lots of hanging objects projecting different colours and designs under the sun always at the mercy of the wind

gero arte, regards from sunny basque country

[yoshef]

[Chris B]

It's hard to make a fully informed decision without full colour renders. However based on the above, I don't actively dislike the new proposals, I just don't like them as much as the previous ones.

Reading through the Design & Access Statement, it appears this will no longer be a hotel, with that being dropped in favour of retail on the ground floor, and offices on all of the upper floors. They state the economic turmoil of recent years has meant it has been difficult to implement the hotel scheme, and in view of the fact there will be two other hotels within Central Village, and the need for good quality office space in the city, they have changed the plans accordingly.

[jets9]

I disliked the original facade proposal......disjointed to the point of schizophenic and lacking in any respect to what is a very distinct urban landscape. However Iam confused. If one hotel has been dropped (for the benefit of extra ground floor retail) then surely that means that Central will have only one hotel left? ....round the back facing the broadwalk.

[buggedboy]

Dissapointed with this. The original idea had panache, whereas this seems very generic. I'm also not hopeful that this will get off the ground very quickly, considering they didnt start looking for a hotelier until they actually got consent, they can only start looking when this gets consent, in 3 months time. That search will itself take time, before they decide it's feasible to begin to build.

Im also confused about the hotel issue, as I thought Millenium and Copthorne were both sign sealed and delivered.

At the very least, this news means Millenium hotel is no more. As they are owned by the same company, I guess Copthorne is no more as well.

Back to the drawing board it seems.

[Chris B]

Originally Posted by jets9

If one hotel has been dropped (for the benefit of extra ground floor retail) then surely that means that Central will have only one hotel left? ....round the back facing the broadwalk.

There will also be a 125-room Adagio apart-hotel within the Lewis's building.

[Skie]

Originally Posted by Paul D

It's just been reported that there will be additional platform space on the BBC skie.

Yeah. Similarly to what has already been done, they are just moving things (like the escalator machinery) so it opens up the platforms a bit more. And some additional safety features to help with crowding...

[DJ Billy]

I'm just pleased to see that Zaro and H&N are coming to Liverpool.

[Accura4Matalan]

[AudioNinja]

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[sardinianboy]

God thats come on quick