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LIVERPOOL ONE REACHES ANOTHER MILESTONE
LIVERPOOL ONE
has announced that 2 more buildings are to be topped out as part
of the £1bn transformation of Liverpool’s historic city centre.
The ‘topping out’ ceremony took place on Thursday, 1 May 2008
on The Arcade along Peter’s Lane and the building that forms the
corner of School Lane and Paradise Street of the ambitious Liverpool
ONE project and represents the finished work of three of the
country’s most renown architects; Dixon Jones, Brock Carmichel and
Haworth Tomkins. These are major buildings that form an integral
part of Liverpool ONE which opens Phase 1 on 29 May 2008.
Shops within these 2 buildings include Ghost, Ted Baker, Radley,
Jones, Karen Millen, G Star and Bench.
The work carried out comprises the renovation of the conservation
area buildings, County Palatine and Compton House (both neighbours
of the recently reopened Bluecoat Chambers) and the Russell Building
which will be renovated and turned into offices. Peter’s Lane
is provided with a roof to create the arcade for the boutique
newbuild shops that will open at Phase 2 launch. Paradise Street
itself is fronted by new two-storey shops with 4 levels of
apartments. Behind the rooftop terrace a new crèche can be found
which will cater for 74 children.
“With the completion of these 2 important buildings within
Liverpool ONE I can really start to feel how close to completion we
are in this historic project,” says Joanne Jennings, Chief
Executive of Liverpool ONE. “Both buildings show the breadth
and scope of the whole project offering Liverpool once again as the
retail hub of the north west drawing in shoppers from a wider
catchment area than ever before.”
Liverpool ONE represents another chapter in the rebirth and
regeneration of one of the country’s most historic cities and the
involvement of these award-winning architects only adds to the
occasion. In a long and illustrious career Dixon Jones have
won awards for their work on The Royal Opera House, The National
Gallery and London’s Somerset House as well as Mississauga City Hall
in Canada.
“All architects love arcades,” says Jeremy Dixon of
Dixon Jones Architects of his company’s involvement in Liverpool
ONE. “It was therefore a particular pleasure and privilege as
an architect to have the opportunity to create a new arcade in the
Paradise Street area of Liverpool. The challenge has been to reflect
the realities of contemporary retail practice in relation to a
historic urban form.
Double-height bow windowed shop fronts are lit by a dramatic vault
that gives a mysterious quality to the daylight. At one end a new
square forms an entrance to the arcade. Two sides of this square are
clad in dark polished reflective granite and all the metalwork is
bronze, ensuring a sense of high quality and permanence throughout.
The arcade becomes a vital connection within one of the principle
shopping circuits generated around Paradise Street.”
The urban block is a splendidly diverse mix of old and new,
including the existing Abney, Palantine and Russell buildings,
Compton House and Blucoats Chambers, as well as the new additions of
the Bling Bling building, the BBC,” comments Graham Haworth from
architects Haworth Tompkins. “The Paradise Street facade develops a
classically traditional urban composition, particularly prevalent in
Liverpool, of base, middle and top. The base is defined by the two
levels of retail accommodation, the middle is formed by a 'grand
order' of three storeys of apartments and the top by an attic storey
loggia, with recessed balconies behind for the upper level of
apartments."
The topping out of 2 of Liverpool ONE’s key buildings represents the
near completion of the most ambitious urban regeneration scheme that
Liverpool has ever seen. Only 1 more building is yet to be
completed. After the Phase 1 launch, Liverpool ONE will open in its
entirety with Phase 2 launch on 30 September 2008.
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Virgin Trains'
response to ORR announcement on West Coast plan
VIRGIN Trains on 2 May 2008
pledged to keep inconvenience to passengers to a minimum while one
of the most intensive programmes of engineering work ever on a UK
main line is completed by Network Rail.
This follows the Office of Rail Regulation's (ORR) announcement that
paves the way for the introduction of a vastly improved timetable at
the start of the New Year (2009), that includes over 30% more train
services and faster journey times.
Tony Collins, Chief Executive of Virgin Trains said that:- "We
are satisfied that, in reaching its decision, the ORR has taken into
account all the issues surrounding this very complex and challenging
infrastructure project.
We welcome the ORR's statement
that it will closely monitor delivery of the project.
Obviously we respect the decision and we will do everything we
possibly can to limit the inconvenience to customers during
extensive works which will inevitably cause disruption.
The test must be to ensure that
the project is delivered on time and can be maintained to a high
standard so that the new timetable remains reliable."
In conjunction with Network Rail, freight companies and other train
operators, the following initiatives are being developed,
particularly when the route in the Rugby area is closed to trains:-
► Extra carriages on East Midlands Trains between Liverpool and
Sheffield via Manchester to help passengers travelling from North
West England to London
► Re-design of the Virgin Trains website to make it easier to find
out when and where engineering work is taking place
► Agreement for passengers holding Virgin Trains tickets to be able
to travel from Manchester via Leeds to London using the services of
Trans Pennine Express and National Express East Coast.
The infrastructure work will enable the introduction of a
transformed timetable from December 2008, which will add millions
more seats a year to Virgin Trains' services.
This will
include three trains an hour each way serving Birmingham and
Manchester from London, up from the present two an hour, and faster
and more frequent services to and from Scotland, North Wales and the
North West.
Weekend services will also be improved,
with far more services on Saturdays and Sundays from 2009. |
Liverpool ONE and Brouhaha work together with local schools
LIVERPOOL
ONE and local arts and community
partner Brouhaha are working with more than of 200 school children
across Liverpool in celebration of the eagerly anticipated launch of
Liverpool ONE on 29 May. The partnership will see a series of
workshops at schools across the city. The school children will each
be given a construction helmet representing the building of
Liverpool ONE, and the children will be invited to decorate and
personalise each hat with what the project and the city means to
them. The decoration will also capture the themes of Liverpool’s
Capital of Culture years: the year of Faith; the year of the Sea;
the year of performance; and the final theme of ‘2008 Capital of
Culture – what does that mean to me?’. The final collection of
‘designer’
hats will be exhibited at the 29 May 2008 launch event on the Community
Stage next to John Lewis. A selection of participating school
children will be involved in a special celebratory performance on
the day to mark the opening.
The first workshop tool place yesterday at the St Francis of Assisi
Academy in Kensington, Liverpool, and was a great success. The
children had a great deal of fun painting their design’s onto the
hard hats and the results were fantastic!
Says Joanne Jennings,
Chief Executive at Liverpool ONE - “Liverpool ONE wanted to
work with 5 local schools across the Merseyside Community for our
May 29 launch event. The community is such a vital part of Liverpool
and we wanted to involved them in every step of the way as Liverpool
ONE approaches opening. It seemed fitting that we involved children
who are the heart of every community. They all seemed to love
designing their hard hats and some of the artwork was inspirational.
We look forward to proudly displaying them in full public view at
Liverpool ONE’s phase 1 launch event! Thanks to St Francis of Assisi
Academy for welcoming us and we look forward to working with the
remaining four schools over the next 2 weeks!”
Lisa Harrison, Community Coordinator comments:- ” St Francis
of Assisi school is proud to be working with Liverpool ONE and
Brouhaha on this community project. The children have had a great
time designing their ‘hard hats’ for the Liverpool ONE launch event
on May 29 and there have been some really great pieces of art! Their
theme was Capital of Culture and each table of children was given a
different display board for inspiration. They are so excited
about taking part in such a big public event and will be able to see
their hats displayed in Liverpool ONE on the big day. Liverpool ONE
is really keen to work with the local community as they move forward
and we were delighted to welcome them into our school. The group of
children who took part in the workshop are from our ‘nurture
group’ and they really got down to the task at hand!
This creative workshop has also prepared the for their next big
local event: ‘The Newsham Park Arts Festival’ on June 28
where they will need to use their art skills to the limit!”
The other workshops will take place over the next couple of weeks
and Liverpool ONE will be visiting Kensington High School, St.
Anne’s Primary School, St. Vincent De Paul and St Patrick’s Primary
School.
Small businesses to get free access to public sector contracts
UNTIL
31 July 2008, the
www.supply2.gov.uk website will
allow new registrants to gain free access to public sector contracts
valued under £100,000 for the UK and Northern Ireland. The
free trial is part of the Department for Business' Enterprise
Strategy which was released in March, which outlined new measures to
increase the amount of government business that is won by small
firms.
Business Minister Shriti Vadera said:- "Small and medium sized
businesses need our support to expand. Many smaller businesses are
more innovative, have lower costs and present better value for
taxpayers than larger firms. Introducing Britain's small firms
to Government procurement contracts online will provide
opportunities to grow that they would not have otherwise found.
Encouraging more small businesses to register for opportunities will
mean buyers benefit from increased competition and access to a wider
range of suppliers."
John Wright, Federation of Small Businesses National Chairman said:-
"The announcement of a free trial for small businesses to get
access to public sector contracts is very welcome news. We supported
the Supply2 initiative from the outset and we hope that this free
trial period will encourage more small businesses to try their hand
at delivering goods and services to the public sector.
But local authorities and government departments must play their
part too by making sure that more small business opportunities are
advertised on Supply2. Opening up public sector procurement to the
UK's 4.5 million small businesses can and should eradicate the false
assumption that biggest is always best."
More than 3,000 new contracts are available on online each month. The 3 month free
trial, available to businesses registering for the first time, will
provide access to contracts throughout the UK rather than in a
nominated local area.
The Enterprise Strategy featured a range of measures to boost small
firms competing for public procurement. An advisory committee,
headed by Anne Glover, will look at ways to reduce barriers that
small businesses face when competing for public sector contracts and
the practicality of setting a goal for them to win 30% of public
sector business within 5 years. The Strategy also included an
announcement that the rules for government procurement will be
changed to allow companies, particularly small firms, to use invoice
financing to compete for public contracts.
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