18th Century Docks Filled In Creating Car Parks

Kings Dock dates from the 1700s. The dock, along with Dukes Dock and a branch of Queens Dock, was foolishly filled in to create car parking space. Yes, to create a car park. Would this happen in any other city?  Doubtful indeed.

Stadium To Be Built On The in-filled Docks

Currently a small stadium, hotels, leisure and some residential buildings are being erected on the in-filled docks. The stadium is actually a very large structure holding 8,500 to 10,000 people. Liverpool needs these facilities we were all told, and true the city does.  However, at what cost?  A massive land area was created by the in-filling of the three docks. The stadium and its complex are clearly in the wrong place.

Wonderful Water Based Environment

The docks gave a wonderful intertwining water environment screaming to be left alone and have suitable buildings constructed around them, giving an Amsterdam flavour to the area.The ideal choice would have been a natural modern extension of the adjacent Albert Dock - using the successful formula at Albert Dock, with buildings of the same height as Albert Dock warehouses, built right up to the quays incorporating covered colonnaded walkways. The successful Albert Dock formula along the original unfilled Dukes, Kings and Queens Docks would have been the natural and ideal choice. This successful formula, with added inventiveness, offered the best solution to modern quayside development right near the city centre, offering residential and leisure facilities.

What Do We Get?

What do we get?  A large land area created from the in-filling of the dock waters with a large stadium structure, large multi-storey car park and rather lacklustre hotel buildings of forgettable design built on top.

Wrong Location

Of course Liverpool desperately needs the facilities offered by the Kings Dock project. The ideal location was opposite on the land side of the docks in the Baltic Triangle.  Or an near alternative site is the land side quays of Queens Dock. The stadium could have a water frontage of Queens Dock and the complex built over the Dock Road and maybe Parliament Street. Much of the buildings of the complex could have been placed on the land and river sides and between the docks.  The historic 1830s Wapping rail tunnel emerges opposite Queens Dock and is ideal to be reused serving the stadium, and the area, in the large volumes of people it would attract. 

Lack of Joined Up Thinking

The Current Kings Dock project should have been built on the Baltic Triangle or the land side of the Queens Dock only yards away across the Wapping Dock. An adjacent historic rail tunnel, built by Stephenson, is screaming to be reused serving the new stadium and complex. The existing Kings, Dukes and Queens Branch Dock could have been excavated and a wonderful water based Amsterdam style of environment created. The Kings and Queens Docks were the only docks that had piers projecting from the river wall into the expanse of Wapping Dock. These piers formed the quays with sheds being built upon and made up the branch docks. If top class buildings were built upon these piers with panoramic view restaurants on the pier ends, a dramatic sight would be created from the Dock Road land side across the Queens and Wapping Docks waters. All this potential was squandered.

Adjacent Projects Do Not Mesh

Each project, the Kings Dock and Baltic Triangle were mutually exclusive. Having no overall plan of what the complete dock system should be, hindered. Instead of a first class stadium project on the Baltic Triangle and top class building around excavated docks, we end up with a clearly second rate offering.  No joined up thinking.  All too typical of Liverpool.

Historic Dock Waterspace Reduced to A Fairground

The dock water spaces are viewed as a means to generate money for large companies. This entails large entertainment complexes, as is the Kings Dock Arena project. The manager of the new arena is complaining that there are too few parking spaces for buses. The idea is to bus people in from outside of Liverpool and they leave, leaving money behind in the till, as happens in a fairground. A 1700s docks are reduced to a form of fairground.

The docks and waterways should be for the people of the city to live around and enjoy the rich inheritance of their forefathers - the city-on-the-water. Commercial complexes can be easily sited on the land side of the dock water spaces and even fronting some of them. Leaving the dock water spaces for people to live around, enjoy the water and add vitality is by far the best approach. Residential and commercial can be both accommodated with the commercial on the land side of the water spaces.

Ideal Location For a Stadium

Below: The tower is the proposed Queens Dock Tower. The picture is Queens Dock with Kings Dock to the right. On the land side of Queens Dock on the waters edge, where the tower is proposed, would have been an ideal location for the arena with a water facing aspect. The Queens Tower could have been located on  one of the branch docks giving a superior location with superior views. The area is full of ramshakle industrial buildings awaiting clearance. Top right of the picture is where the arena is being built. Where land tapers into the water is where the branch docks were filled in. Note that to the right of the Customs House built over the graving docks one of the branch docks has been filled in to create a car park. The disused Wapping rail tunnel emerges to the right just off picture, which could be brought back into service.



Concrete multi-floor Car Park Fronts Wapping Dock

Below: One side of Wapping Dock has old attractive historic red brick warehouses, converted to apartments, complete with colonnade walkways, right up to the quayside - similar to the warehouses at the Albert Dock.



On the in-filled Kings Dock, which now forms one side of Wapping Dock, a concrete multi-floor car park has been built on the dock waters edge opposite the Wapping Dock warehouse apartments. Behind the multi-floor car park a large concrete stadium structure is being built. The plan is to build apartments on a sliver of land between the concrete structure and the Wapping Dock quays. So, far no construction activity has been seen to construct these blocks. This project turns its back on Wapping Dock and the historic warehouse, treating the dock with contempt.

This multi-floor car park is to get people in and out of the area to fill a stadium - a drive to and from leisure complex. This will not create a 7 day a week, all year around vibrant attractive water based community. All very far removed from a vibrant Amsterdam environment this could all have been.

Below: An ugly, raw concrete, multi-floor car park on the waters edge of Wapping Dock - this could have been built on the land side of the docks with access using the bridges over the docks, releasing the land for buildings which would accommodate people, not cars. The developers artists impressions and models show a screen in a futile attempt to hide this needless structure. Yet, the impressions show what falsely  amounts to Manhattan on the Kings Docks site too.

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In the past 60 years the city of Liverpool has either missed the boat, lost the plot, or went for the lowest common denominator. Little has been learnt from past mistakes.

The picture below clearly shows the mass of land generated by filling in docks originating in the 1700s. Only the Customs House, built across Queens Graving Dock, at the bottom of the picture takes advantage of the surrounding water, however does not make full use of the length of quays available. - yet again quays are used as car parks, serving the Customs House.

The picture below is before the Kings Dock and Queens branch were filled in. Some of the two floor dock warehouse sheds are visible. Dukes Dock at the top of the site has already been filed in to create a car park.  Yes, a car park on an eighteenth century dock.

The piers projecting from the river wall create a superb and unique surrounding water based environment, just screaming for buildings to be built upon, attracting people to live and visit creating vibrancy 24/7/365 to the dock area.

To the right of the picture is a long building with a blue roof. The historic 1832 Wapping rail tunnel emerges here. The adjacent land, the Baltic Triangle, was ideal for the stadium complex, the perfect location complete with its own rail tunnel and station connected to the Merseyrail system, moving in and out large numbers of people. The station would also serve the immediate area reducing the need for car parks for residential and Customs House employees. The stadium foolishly ended up on in-filled historic docks yards away at Kings Dock.

In 2001, the Ician Group proposed a very good scheme of apartments, hotels, conference centre and small arena, by excavating some of the in-filled docks and and creating a small network of canals. It was rejected.

The above, Kings, Dukes and Queens Dock complex could easily have created something similar to what is in the picture below, by just erecting buildings on the quays - the water and quays were all there ready.

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Second Rate Buildings To Be built on In-Filled Dock

Below: Planning permission was granted for three lacklustre plain ugly residential blocks to be be built on an in-filled Queens Dock branch Dock. The picture below is an artists impression of the three blocks, a small block is behind the Customs House. The city demolished many superior high rise blocks over 20 years ago. We sacrifice historic water space to have this dross. The dissapointments mount up. The concrete stadium and multi-floor car park can be seen being erected on the in-filled Kings Dock.

A Large Stadium at Central Docks?

There are rumours that a large concrete 60,000 seater stadium, used for around 25 days a year, may be built on in-filled docks at Central Docks. Central Docks is rumoured to be one of the earmarked sites for a stadium. A large imposing structure used for only 25 days of the year would kill the area dead. If built, the waterways and docks would be filled with litter from the large football crowds. Locating a large concrete structure in a  primarily residential area would be as stupid as building a nuclear power station at Central Docks.  

Now no one could be so stupid to do such a dumb thing. Or could they be?