Festival Gardens

The Festival Gardens website is now live

UPDATE: Closure is from 14 June until 29 November 2010

The footpath from near the small roundabout at Riverside Drive/Bempton Road down to the river will temporarily be closed to pedestrians from Monday 14th June 2010 for 2 weeks so that Langtree can carry out work related to the Festival Gardens regeneration.

TTRO5870.pdf

RiversideDrivePlan.pdf

The Liverpool Echo has been given a tour of the Festival Gardens site by design firm Planit


Planit website

A selection of various videos relating to the festival site and Otterspool.

The first one is quite recent and has some footage towards the end of the recent clear up in progress.

Recently some attractive signs have gone up advertising the future Festival Gardens development.

Welcome

Festival Gardens

Festival Gardens

Festival Gardens Website

Festival Gardens tree clearance

Festival Gardens paths between the trees

Came across some reports on the tidy up at the fascinating 28 Days Later Urban Exploration Forum. ...

January:

Feb:

April:

The Land Restoration Trust will be managing the park once it has been developed and they are running a drop-in session for the general public where you can meet the various partners involved with the project and see the plans for the site.

It is between 3.30pm and 7.30pm on Wednesday 24th Feb 2010 at Shorefelds Technology College.

One of the leaflets that will be available can be downloaded here.

According to the Liverpool Daily Post

Developer Langtree will move on to the site today, the first time work has taken place on the derelict site in 13 years.

The £3.7m restoration begins almost 26 years after the International Garden Festival first opened to huge public acclaim in 1984.

After accessing the 70 acres of land construction starts within seven days to restore the Oriental gardens, returning them to public use.

Also revamped will be the lakes and waterways, the Moon Wall will be rebuilt, two pagodas restored and the landscaping of woodland trails carried out.

A new pedestrian access will create links with Otterspool Promenade together with a new parking and public transport facilities.

It is the first work on the Garden Festival site since 1986 when 600 homes were built on the land after the hugely popular park closed.

Work to restore the formal gardens at the International Garden Festival site is expected to start in November, Liverpool City Council said.

The council's executive board gave the go-ahead to developers Langtree to carry out the work, which should see the gardens reopened in a year.

Full story here

Useful Links

Council meeting that gave rise to the above news

More details

THE restoration of Liverpool’s Garden Festival site can finally start following the release of £2.1m of funding for new public attractions

According to the Liverpool Echo...

HOUSEBUILDER David McLean Group went into administration this morning putting the future of two major Liverpool projects into doubt.

The construction firm had a joint venture with Langtree on the former Garden Festival site at Otterspool for the £250m scheme which is to include 1,308 apartments and 66 town houses.

John Downes, managing director of Langtree Group, said: “This news will inevitably delay progress a little but will not stop the project. Langtree remains absolutely committed to delivering the scheme.

“Having recently secured planning permission we are currently drawing up the site remediation and garden management strategy required for the site to move the scheme forward.

“Langtree Group is in a very strong financial position with a healthy balance sheet and has the ability to deliver the project on its own, if needed. We will of course work with the administrator of David McLean Holdings to progress the scheme until a permanent solution is found to their issue.”

David McLean is also involved in the Kings Waterfront development to build 429 apartments in three towers.

The Deeside-based firm has been hit by the downturn in the property market, with recent trade press reports suggesting it was loss making.

There is an article in the online Daily Telegraph by Graham Norwood dated 18 Sep 2008 about the new development.

Just type "rosy mersey" in the search box to find it.

According to the Daily Post

THE CONSTRUCTION of 1,300 apartments on Liverpool’s former International Garden Festival site has been given the go ahead by the Government.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has approved planning permission given by Liverpool City Council for the £250m project following a public inquiry held in 2007 and January this year.

John Downes, managing director of Langtree, one of the partners in the scheme, said he was “delighted” by the result.

Liverpool council and Langtree McLean will now sit down to agree a timetable for work to start on the 125 acre site in Otterspool.

This meeting was to decide whether the council should proceed with its plan to dispose of some public open spaces, adjacent to the Garden Festival site. This disposal was first proposed in April 2007. Many people objected. Mostly because of the disposal of the so called "finger blocks". Land that projects out near the promenade walkway.

( This additional land disposal will not go ahead anyway if the Public Inquiry decides against Langtree MCLean. )

When the disposal was first proposed there was an error in the maps used, meaning that more land is needed than was shown then. The correct version of the maps will not be re advertised because the land is not publicly accessible.

Maps can be seen here...
Map 1
Map 2
Map 3

Full details can be found on the council website

It was decided that...

i) the objections to the proposed disposal of open space adjacent to the Festival Gardens and River Mersey Promenade, St Michaels (as hatched on the plan marked Garden Festival Site – Additional Land and Access Land) be not sustained;

(ii) the granting of a lease of the said land to Langtree McLean Ltd. (LML) for a term to be co-terminous with and on the same terms and conditions as the lease of that part of the Garden Festival site that is to be developed be approved subject to -
- LML obtaining planning permission for their proposals for the redevelopment of the Festival Gardens site; and
- The use of the land being restricted by covenant to the construction of the proposed development including the installation of supporting structures and thereafter as open space; and

(iii) the decision be referred to the Regeneration Select Committee.

In early April the Federation of Liverpool Waterfront Residents Associations (FLWRA) met with Whitbread, the owners of the Britannia pub and a member of Mersey Waterfront’s “Pride in our Promenade” to discuss the development of the Prom and the Britannia.