Liverpool City Council has revealed the most detailed designs yet for the city’s new cruise liner terminal within Peel Land & Property’s £5bn ‘Liverpool Waters’ scheme.
A 90 second fly-through video has been released online on the council’s YouTube account detailing the terminal, showcasing its state of the art passenger and baggage facility, complete with security checking and customs areas, lounge, café, toilets, taxi rank, coach and car passenger drop off and pick up point, short-term car park and four-star hotel.
The reveal of the RIBA Stage 4 designs for the terminal, which will be constructed at the Princes Jetty Site along Princes Parade at Princes Dock in Liverpool Waters, follows recent pre-planning consultation with residents and businesses in relation to the new 200-room hotel which would be opposite the terminal.
The fly-through video also shows how the 10,000 sqm new terminal would be built on two floors with the baggage hall in the ground floor and the passenger lounge, café and check in on the first floor. It also depicts how it will be connected to the existing cruise ship landing stage by a vehicular and passenger link-span bridge and walkway.
The proposed terminal development would comprise the dismantling of the redundant and derelict jetty and construction of the new terminal on a new jetty in the River Mersey. The scheme will also include new public open space, hard and soft landscaping and associated servicing arrangements.
An outline planning permission was granted for the scheme in April and the city council has applied through Mersey Docks and Harbour Company for a Harbour Revision Order for the construction of the Jetty in the River Mersey.
This year Liverpool welcomed more than 60 vessels, with 100,000 passengers and crew, and the city council wants to capitalise further on the cruise boom by creating a state of the art facility to cater for Liverpool’s growing appeal in the cruise industry. The current terminal generates more than £7m a year to the city’s economy.
The new cruise liner terminal, equivalent to the size of two football pitches, would be serviced by an off-site multi-storey car park and will enable the world’s largest cruise ships (up to 3,600 passengers) to embark and disembark at Liverpool and is expected to directly create more than 500 new jobs.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said: “The construction of this new terminal will mark a new chapter in the city’s maritime future as we create a world class experience for the cruise companies and their passengers. We are working with some of the very best in the construction industry to deliver these facilities as this stunning video shows.”
Liverpool City Council has appointed Ramboll (with Stride Treglown as Architects, Jones Lang Lassalle as planning advisors and Turner & Towns end as Cost advisors) as the lead designer and McLaughlin & Harvey as the contractor for the works. The detail design is being progressed with a view to submit a reserved matters planning application in November.
Joyce Brady, Project Director, Ramboll, said: “Ramboll is delighted to have reached the stage on the new Liverpool Cruise Terminal where we can release the final images and fly-through of the new terminal. This is a major regeneration project for Liverpool City Council and their partners that will play an important role in growing Liverpool’s tourist numbers.
“Our team, including architect sub consultants Stride Treglown, and major sub-consultants JLL and Turner and Townsend, are looking forward to seeing the scheme through its construction stage and into operation and accepting ships.”
Reflecting on the design, Gordon Tero, Director at Stride Treglown, commented: “The Liverpool Cruise Terminal is a new gateway to a beautiful city, loved the world over. We have acknowledged the historic setting, whilst also looking to the future, and reflected the excitement of travel in our architecture. We designed the new terminal to be open and outward-looking. Expansive glass walls frame far-reaching views across the city and out to the Irish Sea, and a zinc skin will shimmer with tones of the River Mersey. A concrete plinth, upon which the building sits, is a modern interpretation of the old dock walls.”
John Mariner, Contract Director at McLaughlin & Harvey, said: “We are delighted to be selected to deliver this iconic project on the Liverpool waterfront. To be awarded this prestigious contract is testament to the reputation we’ve built up for delivering high-quality marine developments. We have been working closely with the council and the design team to optimise the design and develop an efficient construction methodology which minimises the impact of the work on the local area and the River Mersey.”
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority recently approved £20m funding from its Single Investment Fund for the new Cruise Terminal facility.
Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “The new cruise liner terminal is a key element in plans to further boost our flourishing visitor economy, which is now worth more than £4.5bn a year to the city region’s economy and provides more than 53,000 jobs. Attracting more visitors, in bigger ships, will give a boost not just to businesses in the city centre, but around the city region, indirectly creating additional jobs for local people across the supply chain. This video brings the plans to life and helps demonstrate how much closer this project is to becoming a reality.”
The site of Princes Jetty and the land known as Plot 11 along Princes Parade, which are needed for the construction of the new cruise terminal and the hotel, will be gifted to the city council by Peel Land and Property Ltd.
Site preparation works for the new facilities are expected to start in the new year, subject to approval of the Harbour Revision Order.