LIVERPOOL MARITIME MERCANTILE CITY WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN 2017 - 2024 Prepared by LOCUS Consulting Ltd LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 1 GEORGE’S HALL GEORGE’S DETAIL OF MINTON TILES, ST TILES, ST MINTON OF DETAIL LIVER BIRD LIVER LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 2 Foreword I am pleased to introduce this Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City World Heritage Site Management Plan for the City of Liverpool, for the period 2017-2024. We in Liverpool are rightly proud of our heritage assets. Historic areas of our city centre and waterfront have been designated a World Heritage Site, recognised by UNESCO in 2004 as a supreme example of a maritime mercantile city. We accept that this great honour brings responsibilities and we are determined to care for our heritage, by applying sound conservation policies and good practice. The World Heritage Site Management Plan will have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the objectives of conservation and regeneration are both achieved. Since its nomination, Liverpool has made great strides to protect its World Heritage Site and in many ways the city has set a new bar in conservation efforts. The Council’s Buildings at Risk programme continues to be the most successful project of its type in England with a 75% reduction in its ‘at risk’ buildings in the past decade and 37 listed buildings upgraded within the World Heritage Site. We recognise more needs to be done to promote the appeal of the World Heritage Site and raise awareness with the public and developers and this new management plan is an important step. The opening of the RIBA North centre in 2017 will see the provision of a hub for Liverpool’s World Heritage Site within the new City Gallery. A programme of tours, events and information material will help us promote the opportunities and interest of the World Heritage Site to residents and visitors. Liverpool is a city undergoing an £11bn renaissance and we need to find the right balance where regeneration and conservation can complement each other. The Stanley Dock complex on Liverpool’s North Shore is a great example of how that can be achieved and this plan sets out the right guidelines to ensure that template is adopted across the World Heritage Site. Liverpool’s unique blend of old and new is part of what makes it different. Our aim is to conserve the city’s cultural heritage to the highest standards of good practice while integrating contemporary architecture. In this way we can continue to create a distinctive and exciting urban landscape, combining the best of new design with the most significant historic buildings. I would like to express my thanks to: Historic England for assisting with funding for the preparation of this document, to the World Heritage Site Steering Group and Historic England for providing guidance throughout its preparation and to all those individuals and organisations which made representations during the public consultation. Joe Anderson, OBE Mayor of Liverpool LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 3 INDIA BUILDINGS, CHAPEL STREET ENTRANCE LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of Liverpool is strongly committed to its and celebration. The Management Plan offers new heritage, affording it an active key role in fostering tools to manage change more effectively and the growing national and international acclaim for collaboratively. Refreshed governance will see its important cultural and economic offer. higher levels of representation for the WHS within key networks, stronger public engagement and a Liverpool has experienced a renaissance in recent clearer set of principles for the successful decades through capitalising on its unique sense of constructive conservation of the WHS’s place and a burgeoning combined retail, culture Outstanding Universal Value. and leisure offer propelling the city to the peak of the world’s top destinations to visit. Growth and Five aims within this Plan: Protect, Conserve and success has been underpinned by significant levels Develop; Understand; Connect; Capitalise; and of investment from public and private sectors in Govern deliver an overall vision: the economy and its cultural heritage. The City Region has ambitious plans for growth. ‘Reconciliation of the enduring ambitions for growth and prosperity established by the City’s The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City World mercantile founders with the need to protect, Heritage Site sits at the heart of the City Region develop and enhance the Outstanding Universal and bears testament to the evolving ambitions and Value of Liverpool’s world-class heritage.’ international capability of one of the most famous port cities in the world. The canals warehouses Culture is capital in Liverpool. World Heritage Site and docks show how Liverpool is engineered for status is one of few designations that guarantees success. The great architectural monuments, visitors a high-quality experience and a distinctive buildings and spaces are an enduring testament to sense of place. This WHS Management Plan it. demonstrates the City’s commitment to protection of its world-class heritage in tandem with fostering The success story is not limited to the past and this a thriving economy. Management Plan recognises the mutually- supporting agendas of growth and conservation and the continued desire for Liverpool to prosper. The City has excelled at improving the condition of its heritage, reducing ‘Heritage at Risk’ percentages to less than half of the national average. Significant private investment and a robust change management framework have been instrumental to this end. However, the World Heritage Site (WHS) faces major challenges. In 2012, the World Heritage Committee placed Liverpool on the World Heritage in Danger list. Liverpool must ensure the continued protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future generations of the cultural heritage of Outstanding Universal Value of the WHS. The sustainable future management of the property is a fundamental part of the approach to achieving this. The purpose of the Liverpool WHS Management Plan is to ensure the effective protection of the WHS for present and future generations. It sets out to accomplish this through establishing a more valued role and active profile for the WHS in Liverpool, through its promotion, interpretation LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 5 LIVERPOOL WORLD HERITAGE SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN // 6 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1 2. THE SITE AND ITS GEOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 5 3. OUTSTANDING UNIVERSAL VALUE .............................................................................................. 21 Attributes of the mercantile city .............................................................................................. 25 4. SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENT ...................................................................................................... 27 5. OPPORTUNITIES TO CAPITALISE .................................................................................................. 31 6. ISSUES AND CHALLENGES............................................................................................................. 35 7. WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP ......................................................................................................... 41 Local and National Partners ..................................................................................................... 42 Third Sector .............................................................................................................................. 43 Private Sector ........................................................................................................................... 44 Education ................................................................................................................................. 45 Societies, Trusts and Networks ................................................................................................ 46 8. PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT .............................................................................................. 47 Centralised Management System ............................................................................................ 48 9. VISION, AIMS & OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................ 53 VISION ...................................................................................................................................... 54 Aims & Objectives .................................................................................................................... 54 10. LEADING THE WAY ................................................................................................................... 57 Steering Group ......................................................................................................................... 58 11. RESOURCING THE PLAN ........................................................................................................... 59 12. ACTION PLAN (2017 – 2024)..................................................................................................... 63 AIM 1: PROTECT, CONSERVE AND DEVELOP ..........................................................................