New vision unveiled for Liverpool Waters after £55m investment

More than a decade on from the approval of the Liverpool Waters Masterplan and waterside regeneration specialist, Peel Waters, has submitted a revised plan to Liverpool City Council, and unveiled its new vision to transform the city’s historic northern docks.

A brand-new CGI image reveals Peel’s new vision for Liverpool Waters, which promises to create a more open, sustainable and community-centred place to live, work and visit, without compromising on scale and ambition.

The news follows yesterday’s announcement that Liverpool City Council is set to receive a £55m investment boost from Homes England to accelerate the regeneration of Central Docks, the largest neighbourhood within Liverpool Waters and the city’s largest brownfield site.

The new Liverpool Waters masterplan now incorporates the emerging destination at Everton’s new stadium, and includes more public green spaces and dockside open space to celebrate the site’s unique maritime heritage and preserve unique elements of the docks.

The new plan also includes a more diverse and affordable housing offer, and will put sustainability, community, and accessibility at its heart, bringing people together, reducing the impact of climate change, and minimising the need for car travel.

Through enhanced infrastructure to support cycling, and better integration with public transport, the updated Liverpool Waters Masterplan will support Peel Waters’ wider strategy on environmental and economic sustainability.

The ambitious 30-year regeneration project covers a 60-hectare site, stretching north from Princes Dock, through Central Docks and Clarence Docks, and up to the city’s Northern Docks, and was first approved eleven years ago. The updated plan reflects societal change over the last decade and incorporates ideas put forward by the local community.

A community engagement exercise, carried out by Peel Waters last year, revealed that the people of Liverpool are overwhelmingly positive and excited about the regeneration that is underway at Liverpool Waters. The feedback received from the public has been a vital part of the process in creating and shaping the new vision.

EFC Stadium foregound Central Docks background March 2024 courtesy of Peel Waters

Chris Capes, Development Director for Liverpool Waters, said:

“Our new vision for Liverpool Waters is both exciting and inspiring, driven by the people of Liverpool and the urgent need to create a sustainable place for future generations to live, work and visit.

“As this new image shows, we haven’t compromised on the scale and ambition of this project but we have reflected on what is most important for the future of this historic site, both as an international tourist destination and for the communities who want to live and work here every day.

“Central Docks alone will deliver thousands of new homes, alongside commercial, retail, leisure and community infrastructure and public spaces over the next ten years.

“The views and feedback given by local people as part of this process has been incredibly valuable and we are very grateful to everyone who took the time to contribute to our engagement exercise on the future of our city’s waterfront and we are very pleased that we have been able to act on this feedback.

“The new Liverpool Waters Masterplan has now been submitted to Liverpool City Council and we look forward to hearing the outcome in due course.”

Professor Michael Parkinson CBE, Heseltine Institute, University of Liverpool, said:

“Liverpool has had a fantastic – if not yet complete – renaissance in the past 20 years. That renaissance will continue in the next 20 years because the city now has stable, high quality political and administrative leadership, good working relationships between the city council and city region, an engaged private sector and a new national government committed to investing in housing to continue the process of urban renaissance.

“In the past north Liverpool has not shared enough in the city’s progress and has been left behind. Liverpool Waters is a crucial part of the city which desperately needs continuing investment and regeneration delivered in a sustainable, high-quality way. When delivered the Masterplan will not only create a high-quality place on the waterfront but should bring benefits to the surrounding community. Capitalising on the building of Everton’s new stadium, the changes in peoples’ working lives after COVID, and the involvement of the local community in the new plan, means the Masterplan is now more attuned to what the city and north Liverpool will really need in future. Liverpool Waters should be a crucial part of the continuing Liverpool success story.”