Liverpool: The Building Site
by Peter Keen

Work has been under way for some time now in western Liverpool where every aspect contains cranes, piles of rubble or materials waiting to be incorporated into new projects. There are three at present, the new retail/commercial centre ( built over the original wet dock, the "Muddy Pool" or creek which gave the town its name) the new Museum of Liverpool Life and the Liverpool Link, the canal which will join the north and south dock system.

The original brick built dock walls have been located and preserved below the development and the site was visited by the Time Team crew although there was little opportunity for trowelling work amid the excavators and dumpers. This is the dock built by Thomas Steers, Henry Berry's predecessor as Liverpool's Dock Engineer.

The new Museum is being constructed on the site of Manchester Dock, once a large water area with its own gates connected directly with the Mersey. Sadly little of this has been preserved, its massive sandstone walls, timber gates and sluice mechanisms now gone, some quite literally destroyed. A strange work method for a museum which one would have assumed to value features from the past.

View from the road looking north towards Princes Dock. Photo: Peter Keen

The new canal across the Pier head is going well. The old Princes Dock which once catered for the Irish and Isle of Man boats has been drained and work carried out to stabilise the old walls, rebuild where necessary and add the fancy railings so beloved by developers. The channel to form the canal has been excavated in front of the Liver Building, and an approach lock is under construction within Princes Dock. The old Riverside Trans-Atlantic station has now gone under a road and car parking area, whilst the Liverpool Museum large objects store has disappeared under the Crown Plaza Hotel.

An amphitheatre has been built in front of the Cunard Building, to be used for small drama presentations, then the canal will plunge into a tunnel below the new museum before passing through a new lock. As the water levels in north and south docks will vary according to the tides this lock will have two sets of gates facing in opposite directions so as to control the water pressure, from whichever direction this originates.

Boaters will leave the Leeds Liverpool Canal above Stanley Dock, lock down into the dock with its massive tobacco warehouse, then sail south through the dock system, now lined with office blocks and coffee bars rather than the old warehouses. They will then enter the new concrete channel, sail beneath the approach road to the ferry boats and cruise liners and continue past the three graces. Passing through the amphitheatre they will enter the tunnel, pass through the new locks and emerge into Canning Dock. This communicates with the remaining south docks where marina space and boating facilities are planned. To boaters who visited previous festivals and had to brave the tidal waters of the open river the new route will be a great comfort.

During construction the canal site is surrounded by security fencing but there is plenty to see and the determined photographer can usually find a suitable vantage point for a good shot.

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