Public to get access to piece of Liverpool history more than 250 years in the making

Work is well underway to make a part of Liverpool's historic docklands that has been inaccessible to the public for more than 200 years into a new visitor location. Rooted in the 18th century, Hartley Quay and Canning Quayside were built on land that was previously part of the River Mersey to clean and repair ships. At the time, it was a model of innovation. Now a £15m renovation project is seeking to enter a third wave of regeneration for the wider area that will include a brand new contemplation area in a long-empty piece of land. Since it was built in 1765, the south dry dock within Canning Quayside has been restricted to public access. Last year new images revealed how this is now all about to change after planning permission was granted to revamp the site as part of National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Transformation Project. Visitors will be able to access the historic dock via a staircase and lift to a brand new contemplation space. A footbridge will also be built from the Royal Albert Dock across to the Canning quayside, which will be enhanced with level pathways and an open-air events space. The project began last Autumn and is being led by architects Asif Khan Studio and artist Theaster Gates. It has been described as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” National Museums Liverpool said the transformation of Canning Dock will reflect its history which is rooted in Liverpool’s deep involvement in transatlantic slavery and create a space for contemplation of its significance. Liz Stewart, Head of Museum of Liverpool, which overlooks the Canning Dock area, said the transformation – which will link up with the wider improvements of the International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum – represented a third wave of regeneration for the historically significant land. She said: “I come from an archeological point of view and I’m very interested in studying buildings and the way that they tell stories about the past and what’s underground as well. Observing from that angle, you see the different stages of preservation and regeneration of Liverpool’s waterfront. “The first wave came in the mid-80s with the Royal Albert Dock being at the heart of the regeneration works back then. Then there was another phase, which has generated a huge amount of archeological interest in the 2000s, where we’ve had a huge amount of work done. “Starting with Liverpool ONE and the excavation of the old dock, which is now, of course, a place that you can visit. Right on the waterfront there’s the Echo Arena, the new residential apartments, and then up to most recently, Bramley-Moore Dock. “I think we’re now, with this waterfront transformation project, in that thirdrd phase where we’re really thinking about the visitor experience at the waterfront. We’re thinking about how we connect all of our spaces here; the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum, the Museum of Liverpool. “The focus for me is the Canning Quayside and dry docks and how that public realm space pulls together all those places and tells those stories about Liverpool’s maritime history, how that’s rooted in the story of Transatlantic slavery and Liverpool’s community stories.” As part of the scheme, it was revealed how a pedestrian bridge will be built linking the Royal Albert Dock with Canning quayside will create a better journey for visitors, and enhance connectivity between the International Slavery Museum, Maritime Museum, Museum of Liverpool, and the wider waterfront. The existing Rennie Swing Bridge, dating back to the 1800s, would be retained alongside the other ship, Edmund Gardner. Liz explained how the development will tap in Liverpool’s rich history while also embracing the white hot pace of technological change. She said: “I think Liverpool’s got a really strong history of preserving its heritage, but also being very, very innovative. The dry docks themselves were one of the first things that were needed when the old dock was built as the world’s first enclosed commercial wet dock. “They needed the dry dock to service and repair the ships, and that was really at the cutting edge of developing a modern dock system in the 18th century. The Albert Dock was very innovative being built to be fireproof and using only fireproof materials. “The world famous Liver Building was very innovative, an early example of a skyscraper as it was described at the time, and these things have not always been popular at the time, but have always been at the edge of that. Now I think for us to be thinking about how we add new elements within the historic environment is very in keeping with Liverpool’s heritage. “We’re very much doing that with the International Slavery Museum and the new front door that we will create to that, which is an artist commission that’s just been out and then with the contemplation space sitting within the dry dock, which is a very modern intervention, but really reflects on the history of the space. It’s been designed to reflect the size and scale of one of the ships which would have been in the docks.” Work is expected to complete in 2029 alongside the regeneration of the museums which closed at the start of the year. Liz set out how progress had come along. She said: “This is a project that has been in the making for a few years now, so it’s brilliant that we’re on site doing things. There’s a big crane on site, there’s been a lot of noise, which is now, fortunately, over and done with as we put in the cofferdam which is the piece of temporary water holding, which will then enable us to build a permanent stopwall to keep that dry dock dry and preserve the heritage that it is. “There’s a lot going on on the site, but this is just the first phase of several years of work, in which we’ll see all of those connections created, making the site more accessible, enabling us to tell the stories of the site much better and then really crucially enabling people to get down into the dry dock and then building the contemplation space within the dry dock.”