Do skyscrapers really harm Liverpool's heritage?

Liverpool's waterfront has long been considered the main jewel in its crown, and the buildings known collectively as its "Three Graces" are world-famous.

But over the last decade, there has been growing tension between the need to preserve the area's heritage and the need to bring in investment and development.

It culminated in 2021 with Unesco stripping the waterfront of its World Heritage Site status.

Now, a plan to build a cluster of skyscrapers about half a mile away from the Liver Building, Cunard Building and Three Graces has raised fresh concerns.

Historic England has gone as far as to say the development – backed by Home Bargains' billionaire owner Tom Walker – would "harm" the Grade I-listed Liver Building.

In a planning document for a 28-storey tower block that would be the first of several planned for the King Edward Triangle near to Princes Dock, Historic England says the building will "result in the loss of views of the towers of the Royal Liver Building from the north along Waterloo Road… [resulting] in some harm to its significance as a landmark building".

Historic England added that there would be similar harm done to views of the Waterloo Warehouse, a Grade II-listed former stores building that was converted into apartments in the 1980s, and to Princes Half-Tide dock – which is Grade II-listed in its own right.

The problem for city planners is balancing the preservation of the city's heritage – which to a certain extent includes making sure its finest buildings are not overshadowed or obscured – with the need to allow development that will have economic benefit.

It was a conflict that led to Liverpool's waterfront being stripped of one of the highest accolades a location can be given.

In 2021, Unesco removed the waterfront's status as a World Heritage Site, taking it off of a list that had ranked it among the Taj Mahal and the ancient city of Babylon since 2004.

The decision was several years in the making. The Peel Holdings-backed Liverpool Waters project that would have seen the northern docks become home to dozens of tall apartment buildings had long-unnerved the Unesco inspectors.

But while that project is yet to materialise in full, it was allowing the building of Everton FC's stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock that arguably put the final nail into the coffin of the World Heritage Site status.

Nick Small, Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for regeneration, said the council was alive to the need to balance regeneration and preservation.

He said: "What we've tried to do is be pragmatic about it. So all that heritage value is still there, and it's still protected.

"And our tall buildings policy strengthens that even further.

"We want a future where we have really good development opportunities alongside the heritage and our world-class waterfront."

The tall buildings policy created in 2022 said that "while the World Heritage Site inscription was revoked by Unesco in 2021, Liverpool City Council continues to represent a historically and culturally unique urban landscape, not just for Britain, but also on the world stage".

"For this reason," it added, "the city's heritage continues to merit the highest levels of protection".

The policy recognised that tall buildings "could result in significant change to Liverpool's skyline, townscape, identity and character".

But while the height of buildings was something the council said it would take into account when giving them the go ahead, at 92.5m, the planned building is almost a third above the height the council's own policy recommended was acceptable for that part of the city.

City planning chiefs, recommending the bid be approved, said while the building exceeded the height recommended by its own plan, "the proposed development nevertheless contributes to the visual amenity of the area by replacing a derelict building and being the catalyst for future regeneration in the area".

Heritage expert and campaigner Jonathan Brown said in principle there was nothing wrong with tall buildings along the waterfront.

He said: "If you have graceful, slender, well-designed buildings then you don't mind. The idea of the tall buildings policy in the 1960s' plans for Liverpool was that they didn't want towers behind the Pier Head.

"The whole thing about Unesco being anti-development was a red herring. They said they didn't want to see anything taller than the Stanley Dock tobacco warehouse, which is huge. You could have had some very good, big,long warehouse-style buildings, rather than just a lot of skyscrapers."

Brown added the city deserved better than "generic rent slabs" that were designed with little imagination.

"There are tall buildings that genuinely enhance waterfronts, like the Shard in London or the Woolworth Building in New York. The right quality can make a positive difference," he said.

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