Completed in October 2010, Lime Street Gateway is an entirely new piece of public realm that has vastly improved the aspect and accessibility of Liverpool’s main railway station. Located with the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the scheme removed a group of buildings largely regarded as local eyesores and in their place created a public plaza which enjoys fantastic views of Lime Street’s historic grand buildings. The scheme is already greatly appreciated and well used by the people of Liverpool.
Within the new pedestrian plaza, a diagonal ‘street’ has been provided directly accessing the station offering new ‘postcard’ views of the city centre.
The objective was to greatly improve pedestrian access, but achieve this in visually simple and sensitive way, and with minimal clutter, sympathetic to the surrounding historic Listed buildings. This has been carried out by using a colour scheme which is well coordinated and not intrusive, yet still providing contrast for the partially sighted. In addition, all slopes are no steeper than 1 in 21, therefore removing the need for intrusive handrails. The design integrates complex changes of level creating a sculpted landscape which is highly aesthetic yet also functional, providing a large choice of seating opportunities.
With some assistance from LI Registered Practice Moore Environment towards specification writing and working drawings, a team of landscape architects at Glenn Howells Architects designed and managed the scheme through from inception to completion on site using a traditional JCT contract.
