Hallo und willkommen, welcome to AidanEyewitness.
I’m here in Everton Park, North Liverpool, with its magnificent views. The area just to
the north of the city centre by Scotland Road is a fascinating case study in urban change. At
Bramley-Moore Dock, the new stadium is nearing completion and nearby there are some apartment
developments in progress, though others are taking their time. How long before post-industrial
turns into vibrant, 21st century residential? The dominant landmark in Liv
erpool city centre
is Radio City Tower and over to the right is the tall, pointed tower of the municipal
buildings, now the Municipal Hotel & Spa. We can see the twin clock towers of the
Liver Building with its Liver Birds, then, the Unity building with
its rectangular pod on the top. Beetham West Tower is the
tallest building in Liverpool, to its right the Lexington and One Princes Dock. Alexandra Tower is the one with a sloping roof.
We can see the ventilation towers of the 1971 Kingsway
Tunnel on both sides of the river,
with the diagonal shape at the base base. Further up on the Wirral side of
the river is Wallasey town hall. The large white building on the horizon
is residential tower block Liscard House. The very large, rectangular structure
is the Tobacco Warehouse. The two cranes belong to a big new canalside
development. We’ll look at both later. Then we have the largest and most impressive
construction project in Liverpool: The new Everton football stadium. In the
distance, on
the hilltop is the Catholic church of Saint Peter and Paul and St Philomena, and much closer,
with its eight pinnacles, is Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church on Scotland Road, just near
the old house of legendary singer Cilla Black The view leads us further into the Liverpool docks
with its wind turbines, cranes and storage tanks. In the 19th century, a whole city district
was built on this hill and the area below it, known as Scotland Rd or Scotty Road. It was torn
down in the
nineteen sixties, residents rehoused, tower blocks built, but later demolished to
reveal this incredible panoramic view from Everton Park. Sadly the park is in a rather poor
state, with discarded rubbish everywhere, walls, steps and footways are in need of renovation.
The history of this district is documented in an excellent book “The Lost Tribe of
Everton and Scottie Road” by Ken Rogers. We are on today’s Scotland Road by
St Anthony’s Church. As I child I loved Cilla Black especially her
“Liverpool
Lullaby”. She lived just up here on the left, but the buildings have gone.
What’s there today? A McDonald’s. We fly over to the west now, over low-rise
residential and beyond the railway line, commercial areas and the empty Central Docks
area and we are driving in a northerly direciton along Regent Road. We’re just passing
the Invisible Wind Factory where I saw Mick Head and the Red Elastic Band, Liverpool’s
finest, check him out, link below. On the right is the gigantic Tobacco
Warehouse and on the
left, the new Everton Bramley Moore Stadium. This building has distinctive curves, like
a footballer’s sports car. It was originally designed by MEIS architects, but BDP Pattern
architects were commissioned to take it over. I’m sure this project is going to be a massive
catalyst for development in the northern part of Liverpool. It’s constructed on top of the Grade
II listed Bramley Moore Dock and if needed, it can be removed in the future to reveal
the original dock
underneath. This project, with all its regeneration benefits
was a reason why UNESCO decided to remove their World Heritage title from Liverpool. So, what is the area around the
new stadium going to look like when it’s complete? Keep watching AidanEyewitness. To its south is the planned district, Central
Docks, part of Liverpool Waters, a major project by Peel Holdings. Here are the boards on Jesse
Hartley Way. ‘Central Docks,’ it says ‘an exciting residential, business, entertainment and le
isure
district at Liverpool Waters - coming soon... but I took those pictures in August 2021. Two and
a half years later, no buildings have appeared. Lower down we can see the Isle of Man Ferry
Terminal nearing completion and nearby, the steel skeleton of a new building.
What is it? Post a comment if you know. The former North Warehouse is now the Titanic
Hotel and on the south side of Stanley Dock is the Tobacco Warehouse. After standing derelict
for years, it’s been converted into a resi
dential building. The apartments are in a duplex
mezzanine layout with windows on two levels. The Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse
was begun in 1900 and completed in 1901. It’s Grade II listed and is the
biggest brick warehouse in the world. At the north end of Princes Dock is Alexandra
Tower, completed in 2007. Let’s check out the new building that’s under construction, I am tracking
its progress. It’s called Patagonia place. Since my last capture two months ago, it
looks like they have com
pleted two and a half storeys. The central core has advanced by
similar amount. I’ll keep tracking it until it reaches completion just below the height of the
crane. It will be 95 metres, 312 feet, 31 floors. We’re now on the busy Leeds Street on
the northern edge of the city centre, passing the abandoned Infinity Waters project with its three tall towers. Due to
various problems with the developer, it was abandoned. Another developer took over
but I can see no activity on the site as yet.
But further up Leeds Street there is a
new proposed development entitled The Gateway. Similar to Infinity, it has narrow
towers though not as high. Developers are Legacie. The scheme has 656 one, two and
three-bedroom luxury apartments across four tower blocks. I understand the project
has not yet been given the official go-ahead. This area has been dubbed ‘The Northern
Quarter’ where have I heard that before? Interesting how areas can be branded and take
on an identity of their own. We al
so have, just around here, the Pumpfields districct,
named after the L-shaped Pumpfields Road. So how is this location going
to look in a few years? Well, here’s how it looked until recently. Dave’s
Motors, I wonder where they’re based now. Just behind this site, Bastion Point is already
in progress. Slowly, step by step, this area is moving towards that idyllic, contemporary
residential district we see in the visualisations. The signs say: Don’t miss out. 69
luxury apartments with amazing
views across Liverpool. Yes, I’m sure they will
be. Luxury 2 and three bed apartments in the heart of Liverpool. Mathew Street
is about a 17 minute walk from here. At the end of the busy Leeds Street, we turn back
onto Scotland Road and pass Westminster Park, a prestigious project I’ve featured previously.
This is how it was intended to look, but as we can see, only one of
the blocks has been completed. Just a stones throw from Westminster Park and just
to the rear of Bastion Point, is th
is empty site. Last year, the boards showed plans for a new
residential development named Kingsway Square. Today the boards have been removed. The site
is empty. Looks like it was abandoned before it even started. What’s happening here? On
the positive side though, not far from here, a major residential project is well
advanced, we’ll see it in a while. I walked up across the bridge to the north
side of the Kingsway Tunnel approach to find this striking but derelict Edwardian
tenement comp
lex called Eldon Grove. It’s Grade II listed and is an early example
of council housing. It was opened in 1912 by the Countess of Derby, a year after the
Liver Building. Ah, those were the days. But, some time in the not too distant past, it
was abandoned and has been an empty, rotting shell since then. Can you just imagine what this
would look like if it was completely renovated? Full of character and history, but its future is
uncertain. Renovation plans have fallen through. Local residen
ts are frustrated with the lack
of progress. Some say better for it to be demolished. It’s a shame. What went wrong?
It’s important to be aware that there up here in this part of Liverpool, there are
lots of houses set on pleasant streets. We can see them from this Google Earth view,
they’re on east side of the railway line. Just to the west of the railway viaduct,
overlooking the famous Stanley Flight of Locks is a major residential project
named Hartley Locks. It’s by Torus Developments.
Let’s compare it to how it
looked when I visited in April 2023. It’s great to see construction in progress and
they’ve achieved a lot in just 9 months. It would be great to have a Merseyrail station
here to serve Hartley Locks and the new stadium, which is only a five minute walk away. It’s
a great location by the those attractive and historic locks that link up
with the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The cost is 52 million pounds, architects
Tim Groom and Partners, there will be 185 apartments
and ten townhouses. It’s said to
sustain 350 construction jobs on the site. The Stanley lock flight is grade II-listed and
was built in 1848. Designed by Jesse Hartley. There’s one of the new triple
seven class trains heading maybe to Headbolt Lane which I
featured in a previous video.. It won’t be long before this project will be
fully occupied by lots of new residents. It will radically alter the face of this part of the
city and as we look above over Tobacco Warehouse we can hopefully
look forward to the rest of the
Liverpool Waters Central Docks being completed. But how long is it going to be take for
the area to turn from a post-industrial part-residential area to a desirable
and attractive, state-of-the art, vibrant new quarter in the great city of
Liverpool? Keep watching AidanEyewitness, and I’ll do my best to capture snapshots
as a new Liverpool gradually takes shape. One of my motivations is to record
locations before new construction, and if possible, the buildi
ng that was there
before, an impossible task for one person. I aim to build a representative sample,
a mosaic of the city as it develops. If you think you can help me
out, then please donate to www.buymeacoffee.com. And if you live
in a tall building on an upper floor, I have a special request. Please
see below in the description. If you found this video interesting, please like
the video, subscribe to the channel share with others, and post a comment if you have any
opinions, insider inf
ormation or tipoffs. Vielen Dank fürs Zuschauen und
auf Wiedersehen in Liverpool.
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