Having been away on holiday, I was sorry to miss the revelation of Dallas-based HKS’Â architects’ design mock-ups for the new stadium. As I said in the previous post, the design promised to be something quite exceptional, and so it has proven. Hopefully, work will now start on the stadium by the end of this year, with completion set for 2010.
The new design for the Stanley Park Stadium - the new Anfield - is described at ‘amazing’, by a person familiar with the plans. LFC co-owner Tom Hicks last month revealed that ’spectacular’ new designs for the club’s new home would be submitted to the council for planning assessment by the end of June. Earlier designs, viewed as unambitious by Hicks and George Gillett, were completely overhauled, and the latest design is now described as like a ’spaceship’, with a glass structure for the kop - which acts as the centrepiece and focus of the design - and four unequal stands that mirror the organic way in which many UK football stadia have developed over the years. The total costs are now estimated at around £300 million, the person familiar with the plans said, and the financing is being sought from US banks and capital markets. The new design is expected to feature seating for 68,000, 7,000 more than the original, but Hicks hasn’t discounted further expansion to accommodate “somewhere in the mid to high 70s,” subject to planning and transport issues being ironed out.
St George’s Hall, one of the world’s finest examples of neo-classical architecture, will reopen April 23 after a £23 million redevelopment, with Prince Charles in attendance. As part of Liverpool’s 800th birthday, the reopening will feature half-hour and twice-nightly Son et Lumiere displays from April 23-29. There will run at 8.30pm and 9.30pm, and cost £3 for adults and £1.50 for OAPs and under-12s. Family tickets for 2 adults and 2 children are £7, all from 08 Place in Whitechapel or call 0151 233 2008. Other highlights include the 30,000-tile Minton Tile Floor, on show 10am to 7pm daily until April 29; India’s Milapfest dancers on the steps of the hall, from 1pm on April 23; the reopening of the Small Concert Room for the first time since WWII and performances by the Royal Liverpool Phil Orchestra and BBC Young Musician of the Year on 26 and 27 April.  St George’s Hall was designed by Harvey Londsdale Elmes, who was just 25 years old when he won the competition to design it, and reputedly housed the world’s first air-conditioning system. The main hall is 169×74 feet and houses the second-largest organ in the U.K. after the Royal Albert Hall. My strongest memory of St George’s Hall was the Echo and the Bunnymen concert held there as part of the Liverpool band’s ‘Crysal Day’ experience on May 12, 1984. The History of St George’s Hall.
Liverpool with a skyline that resembles Shanghai or Dubai, or perhaps Singapore, where I lived for a time? Skycrapers and traditional buildings sat side by side, the scale and modernist grandeur of the former throwing into sharp relief the architectural heritage of the past? Frankly, I like the sound of that, and it’s a vision of the future that has been echoed recently in The Sunday Times, on the BBC and elsewhere, amid forecasts that more than 100 skyscrapers are set to be built across Liverpool, and in Manchester and Leeds. Liverpool’s development plans include a massive £5.5 billion skyscraper scheme with buildings up to 50 storeys, as developers invest heavily on the back of a strengthening housing demand in the city centre after years of exodus. For detailed news and images of planned skyscraper developments in Liverpool and elsewhere, visit skyscrapernews.com to see how Liverpool may be starting to catch up with some of the world’s other inspiring cityscapes. With all this development, though, the crucial acid test must be its impact on improving the working, personal and creative lives of the people of Merseyside. For interesting discussions on this subject, visit the Nerve website of the arts, cultural and social issues magazine of the same name. (Photo: Fourth Grace Foster. Copyright Holder - Foster and Partners)
I must admit, I’ve always had a bit of a downer on the Olympics. Not the original ideal, which is laudable, and it’s probably great fun to go and see some of the events. But, and call me an old curmudgeon, the endless niche sports, most of which have an audience that makes ‘Cash in the Attic’ look like primetime TV, the dilution of the ‘amateur’ status through all the sponsorship and, most importantly, the impact staging the thing has on host nations, make it a bit of an absurdity. I’m glad that there’s some evidence that kids are getting excited about it, but I think improving weather conditions will do more to foster participation in sport in this country than anything else down the line. We already know about the spiralling costs of the London Olympics. Predicatable. We also know, from the experience of every summer and winter Olympics games, that it will be a poisoned chalice in other ways, a rerun on a larger scale of the Millennium Dome. Now, of course, we hear about the (predictable) impact on regional projects, including Liverpool’s own museums. Not that Liverpool 08 gets much coverage in London, so the big-wigs there probably don’t mind. We learn today that National Museums Liverpool will have its three-year Grant Aid settlement from Tessa Jowell’s Department of Culture, Media and Sport  ”significantly” cut, leading to possible charges to the public for attractions that would previously have been free, a reduction in programmes and perhaps other impacts of which we are so far unaware. All because the government needs to find an extra £900 million to cover the (predictably) spiralling costs of the London Olympics.  I agree with Councillor Mike Storey, the former head of Liverpool City Council, when he says “It’s absolutely barmy,” that the cuts will fall just when the focus is on Liverpool, in 2008.  A spokeswoman from the government told the Liverpool Daily Post: “It is certainly a widespread feeling across the country that the arts are suffering as a result of us winning the Olympic bid. There is a cost to the public purse of staging the Olympics but his will put us in an international spotlight which will benefit cultural life.” So there you have it, a one-off sporting event in London will benefit the cultural life of the whole of the U.K. more than the promotion of regional arts on a sustained basis. Go figure. Visit National Museums Liverpool
 
Approval has been given to the project to build three modernist buildings adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at the Three Graces. A UNESCO mission, visiting Liverpool last month, already said the new buildings will not threaten the World Heritage status, although some campaigners say they will permanently alter, and for some obscure, the view of the Three Graces. UNESCO’s full report will be submitted in mid-December. Developers Neptune and Countryside Properties will start work mid-April, with plans for a face of lustrous black granite to showcase dockside eateries, retail areas, an exhibition area, over 370 apartments and office space. But campaigners, anxious to preserve the historic view, have urged caution and will continue to try to block the plans. While I have some sympathy for their views, it is vital, in my view, that Liverpool makes the brave decisions required to bring it into the 21st Century. This means sensitive development, but not at the expense of architectural boldness, as I have argued previously. Few in London complain about leading architectural design blotting the cityscape, whether it’s Norman Foster’s ‘Gherkin’ or the admirable Paternoster Square. “If there really is a new paradigm in architecture, then it will reflect changes in science, religion and politics,” writes Charles Jencks.  In these turbulent times of ours, we need to move away from the monolithic structures that have caused such harm, to a more self-organizing view that is reflected in new developments in the sciences and the arts, from non-linear dynamics to blogging. Buildings need to reach out to the people that inhabit them or view them, reorganizing urban spaces to enfranchise their inhabitants, not shut them out. It’s important that Liverpudlians open their hearts and minds and show that Liverpool really is a world city, but not a follower - a leader. Architecture, like literature and music, can be transforming, not just for society but for an individual’s experience in time and space.
(Photo c. icliverpool)
Last night, £9 million of European Union funding connected with LFC’s plans for a  new 60,000-seat Stanley Park Stadium was approved following assurances from the club that the majority of the remaining money for the stadium  is in place. In what is a complex financial situation, Liverpool’s board had until yesterday to present a convincing case that its stadium plans would go ahead to secure a first round of public funding. The £9 million, from the European Development Fund (Objective 1), is earmarked for the regeneration of Stanley Park, the Gladstone Conservatory and other public works in the vicinity, all of which in their turn hinge on the construction of the Stanley Park Stadium. It is now hoped the Objective 1  funding will trigger further public funding, including £8.9 million from the North West Development Agency and £1.7 million from Liverpool City Council, which is the beneficiary of the £9 million EU money already agreed. However, as yet there have been no clear statements from Liverpool Football Club or its board members on how the private-sector money to build the stadium will be raised. There are thought to be at least three proposals, one of which includes local building and hotels magnate Steve Morgan, who has made several unsuccessful bids for Liverpool Football Club.  What is needed now is a clear statement from LFC, not only for supporters, but for the people of Anfield.
This Thursday, Sept. 28, Liverpool Football Club must prove it has the money in place to pay for the new Anfield - the planned £215 million, 60,000-seat Stanley Park Stadium.  With Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez already in talks with LFC chairman Rick Parry about how to retain Anfield’s unique atmosphere at the new ground and retain the supporters’ crucial role in Liverpool’s past and future success, there’s an air of progress about the deal. Rafa wants a ‘collosseum’ of football, similar to Argentine club Boca Juniors’ La Bombonera stadium, according to media reports, with steep, serried ranks of seating capable of creating a wall of noise to rival the kop in its hey-day. But before his dream is realised, there’s the small matter of the money.  Last Friday, the Anfield board met to discuss financing. The projects cost has increased to £215 million, while £180 million in funding needs to be in place for work to commence.  Local councillors and other officials, with whom rests over £20 million in public funding for the stadium, need assurances at this Thursday’s meeting that LFC has the remaining money in place. Media reports say Liverpool have held talks with half-a-dozen potential investors, including the Kraft family in the U.S., a Dubai-based investment fund, a southern-based consortium and Steve Morgan, the local property, construction and hotels multi-millionaire who has tried unsuccesfully to buy himself a place on the Liverpool board. Morgan has so far chosen not to make a fifth bid, but some senior shareholders at Liverpool want to see Morgan working alongside majority shareholder David Moores. It could get interesting over the next couple of days.Â
Much has been achieved since Liverpool got the nod as European Capital of Culture 2008, but much still remains to be done. The failure of the planned Merseytram project, media reports of delays in many of the city’s flagship projects which may not be ready by 2008, and watered-down plans for others, raise questions about leadership and project management and increase the prospect of cranes swinging over the city right throughout 2008 itself. Away from the big construction projects, however, there’s growing evidence of increase vibrancy in Liverpool’s artistic and cultural life, with many events occuring in and around the city. Whatever your view, share it with others at the Liverpool Culture Club Update Meeting, 28th Sept, 6.30pm at St George’s Hall. Places strictly limited, so to reserve a spot, email: rsvp@liverpool.gov.uk, stating your full name, postal address and daytime contact number, quoting ‘update meeting’. Or telephone: 0151 233 2008, or visit 08 Place in Whitechapel. Deadline for all applications: Thursday 21st Sept. Successful applicants will receive
If Liverpool Football Club can get the investment in time, building work on the new Stanley Park stadium can start in 2007. According to a report in The Times,  Liverpool City Council indicated it would ratify a decision to lease the site when it meets this Friday. If building work starts in 2007, the target is to open the new 60,000-seat stadium for the 2009-10 season. The project’s cost has risen to £215 million, three times the initial estimate, with £26 million coming from the public sector, £15 million from Objective One European funding and the rest from LFC, which is seeking investment vehicles which satisfy the other project backers.
