Neil Scales-A Spiv For Peel Holdings.

This bloke is out of control. Liverpool seems consistent with its plans to let people who lack culture destroy what little we have. If ever there was a act of vandalism, then it was cutting up the historic U-534 and getting rid of the Historic Warships Collection. Here he is trying to make the public believe he is a jolly old fella, when in my opinion he is a "Boomtown Rat". Now, as a Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, who last year lost £750,000, he spivs for Peel Holdings writing in to the letters page of the Daily Ghost. Remember the previous Chamber Chairman who supported the Mann Island Mess, the David Cameron lookalike David Wade-Smith from Caldy Wirral.   http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/david-wade-smith-not-right-choice-as.html

 He says, in his letter entitled. Full support

LIVERPOOL Chamber of Commerce would like to extend our full support for the Liverpool Waters initiative. In light of the current recession and imminent public sector cuts, we are pleased to see the private sector drawing up this ambitious road map to the future.
Peel Holdings recently made a presentation to Chamber members, explaining the full scale and ambition of the project, the focus on local job creation and the visual impact of the development.Following the meeting, several members cited examples of waterfronts that successfully marry the old with the new, including Copenhagen, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Seattle.
We would like to encourage Peel to be even bolder in its design aspirations for both building height and design.
Many of our members also made the trip to the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 and understand the global value of a spectacular waterfront. Liverpool’s waterfront is magnificent, and any development planned for the next generation must ensure that it remains an iconic symbol of great design and heritage for the future.
This project, we believe, has the potential to be a world-class exemplar of a modern waterfront city weaving around the historical footprint.
On the issue of heritage, we are pleased to note that Peel intend to bring the historic and architecturally interesting Jesse Hartley Clock back into use.
We would also recommend the approach adopted by Liverpool One, who implemented a policy of integration with the city by restoring all of the historical links to the old dock.
We would urge members of the region’s business community who wish to see Liverpool regain its rightful place as a world-class city, and see it prosper throughout the twenty-first century, to make their support known to both Peel and Liverpool City Council.


Neil Scales OBE, MSc, MBA, C Eng, Chairman, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/letters-to-editor/2011/02/28/worrying-changes-to-neptune-plans-92534-28246559/


This is the bloke in Charge of South Parkway Station cock up.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/02/liverpool-south-parkway-station.html

This is the bloke who as Merseytravel Charman owned doomed Ringo House.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-does-merseytravel-own-ringos-house.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/9-madryn-street-ringos-house-why-knock.html

This is the Moron who cut up U-534 in an act of vandalism.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/u-534-cut-up-into-five-pieces-by-neil.html

This is the uncultured idiot who built a Ken Dodd with a kebab in its hand at Lime Street Station.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liverpool-european-capital-ofbad.html

This is the Spiv who would sell out what is left of the World Heritage Site to Peel Holdings.

This is a person lacking in any culture with far too much to say on behalf of his..........mates.

http://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/newsarticle.asp?articleid=1503&catid=1

Unesco Wastes £12m UK Aid While Allowings Its World Heritage Sites To Be Ransacked.

Well this is everything any person with an ounce of common sense knows.
While the Unesco officials who, it may be added have the most atrocious building in Paris, as a base, allow Liverpool's WHS to be ransacked.

I think they are bribed BY THE DCMS,  and are in the pocket of the British Government but I did not know it was as much as is reported by the Times. click on the paywalled article to read, especially if you work for the Liverpool Daily Ghost.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/04/are-unesco-corrupt-or-just-plain-stupid.html

ARE UNESCO CORRUPT-OR JUST PLAIN IGNORANT.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/unesco-have-they-given-up-on-liverpool.html
UNESCO JUST DONT CARE.

English Heritage Slam Liverpool Waters.

Looks like those arrogant bastards who are Peel Holdings have had a dent to their over inflated egos.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/peel-holdings-arrogant-bastards.html

Or is this a game that the English Heretics who sanctioned some of the worst architectural disasters since Goering sent wave after wave of the Luftwaffe over during the blitz, to bomb the gubbings out of us, are playing to look like they are going through the motions.
HENRY OWEN-JOHN the Regional Development Director is, in my opinion, a disgrace to his profession but he has now come out publicly against Peel.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/05/henry-owen-john-english-heretic.html

We broke the depressing news that another, slimy, in my opinion, character, and ex English Heretic, is employed by Peel.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/09/peter-de-figueiredo-opinion-for-hire.html Opinion for hire, (to the highest bidder) Peter de Figueiredo.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/who-polices-heritage-police.html


 
We are not messing around with Liverpool's corrupted planning system anymore we are applying our energies to the DCMS who are legally obliged to protect the WHS.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/02/liverpools-dodgy-planners-and-its.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/peel-holdings-being-helped-by-liverpool.html

Yesterday David Bartlett who is doing a good job tracking this planning process reported.


THE regional head of English Heritage last night warned it would fight the £5.5bn Liverpool Waters scheme – unless Peel agreed to make further changes to its plans.
Henry Owen-John said Peel had a “significant” way to go to persuade English Heritage that it should back the scheme and that it would not damage the city’s World Heritage Site.
Peel Holdings wants to regenerate the city’s northern docklands with a series of skyscrapers, claiming it will create more than 25,000 jobs and 14,000 apartments in a £5.5bn development.
Last year Lindsey Ashworth, director of investment for Peel Holdings, said he was not prepared to make any more changes after already substantially reducing the size of the development which Liverpool council planners are currently considering.
If English Heritage lodges an objection and the city grants planning permission, the scheme would automatically be referred to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles – dramatically increasing the chances of a lengthy and costly public inquiry.
Mr Owen-John also revealed that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has notified Unesco, which oversees World Heritage Sites, about the Liverpool Waters project.
Unesco’s specialist advisers are currently preparing a report on the scheme.
English Heritage has also commissioned an independent report into the potential impact of the scheme.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Post, Mr Owen-John said: “We fully support the principle of developing the area. Clearly it is a brownfield site at the moment which is inaccessible and there is real opportunity that could have enormous benefit for Liverpool widely and north Liverpool particularly.
“I think we have come a long way in three years and we are appreciative of the changes that Peel have made.
“The scheme is now very significantly different, there were many more tall buildings.
“The adjustments that have been made are clearly significant from Peel’s point .
“We feel, despite that, we are not quite there in being able to reach agreement with Peel.”

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/24/english-heritage-demand-more-changes-to-liverpool-waters-92534-28225547/

Read more here.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/liverpool-waters-public-inquiry-is.html

 And what is the world heritage waste of space John, "backbone of a jellyfish" Hinchliffe doing...well probably the same as ever..........nothing.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/john-hinchliffe-liverpools-world.html

Liverpool South Parkway Station-A Complete Cock Up

Yes someone has to say it especially as they are spinning it that this is, or has, "World Class Connections".
Well the reality is they spent £30,000,000 of our money rebuilding this station and rebranding it.....................but the London trains cant stop there because the platform is not long enough.
So you get off at John Lennon Airport you get a bus to Lime Street Station and get on a London train and then steer right past the station that claims to have world class connections. The planners can only be described as world class idiots for even attempting to kid you that it is a success. All that is missing is a Ken Dodd statue like the one that was unveiled at Lime Street Station and Neil Scales could have wasted another couple of hundred grand.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liverpool-european-capital-ofbad.html 
The local press kept all this quiet in 2008 so as not to show how innefectivly the billion pounds of European Objective One funding was being distributed by the North "Vested Interest" Development Agency.
So now Joe "Come and inspect the books" Anderson has opened a Embassy in London so he can promote business for Frank McKenna's mates at Downtown Liverpool.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/frank-mckenna-suckles-at-breast-of-joe.html
Anderson just sounds like a whinging scouser blstering away. http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/02/joe-andersons-bluster-bombast.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12245480 BBC News article about the Embassy.


They wont be promoting this, err, apparent oversight to those business men who come here by plane from London and waste hours sitting on a bus going through the council estate in Speke sitting next to a scally in a trackie with a Pit Bull Terrier.
And then when they get to Lime Street watching as the train goes right past where they started.

Martins Bank and its Slave Trade Iconography

 Are the boys not traditional blackamoors.

Are they just a pair of servants assisting the Merman?
Is he gently patting their curled locks in an affectionate manner?

Or is this sculpture symbolic of the historic suppression of Africans by a master race - the English?

‘One thing for certain is that they are carrying moneybags.

And they are subtly manacled.






My opinion is that it is about as much as Herbert Rowse the architect could get away with. He was inspired by a visit to America and would have seen American segregation first hand.
Tyson Smith was a classicist, a clever man who understood symbolism. In fact he traded in it. He designed war memorials. His close relative, Edward Carter-Preston, designed the death plaque that was given to relatives of those who perished in the Great War.
‘A cornucopia of spilling gold adorns this building on every side. I am sure it was intended as a reminder that Liverpool was built by slavers’ money and that its bankers grew fat off the whipped backs of Africans when they were bankrolling cargoes of strange fruit bound for the Americas. Whatever you make of it, we need our history preserved and we need this building which is now under threat.’

Baltic Triangle-European Capital Of Car Crime.

Top Gear had John Bishop, the new, same old comedian reinforcing all the old stereotypes as a star in a reasonably priced car.

 The end of the show they had the reasonably priced car up on bricks with its wheels robbed. How dare they, you cant say all scousers are theives.                                                          How must those poor unsuspectinging motorists feel when they get back to their cars and they are screwed. Now I pick my words carefully, screwed, right in front of the thick Rozzers who do nothing about it because they are too busy giving out tickets to notice. P.C Barry Downes knows the amount of car crime going on as does the Chief Constable but do they do anything about it.......no, they just carry on ticketing regardless.
This last couple of weeks a spate of car crime is under way, every day there are more car windows smashed.
The tell tale signs are always there glass on the road, then no-one parks there for a while and then a few weeks later more fodder come along and bang another crack deal is done with the proceeds, and right under the nose of plod.
Its been going on for decades, yes decades my van was done 25 years ago outside Simross Carpets.
This is another car done this week while the Bizzies drive round announcing themselves in their waspish looking Ford Focus. The kids just laugh at them.

I have counted maybe 50 cars screwed over the years. I am careful to leave no tempting tit-bits to warrant a thug smashing my window and I like the walk into town. The Baltic Triangle is on the periphery of Grosvenor-pool the shiny new beacon of Liverpool The Baltic Triangle is, it is said going to be a new cultural quarter, not quite sure how a Triangle becomes a quarter, maybe the spin doctors are as thick as the Fuzz it seems. I walk past Heaps Rice Mill every day that is now in a perilous state of decay. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/heaps-rice-mill-grade-ii-listed-and.html
But the spinners tell us everything will be grand.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/liverpools-baltic-triangle-to-become.html
The A-Foundation went out of business this week, errr that's the culture, if that's what it was, gone.
Ley Rubber have moved out this week.
They say they may make the site a.......car park.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/liverpools-baltic-triangle-more-than.html
All those people coming into town and what happens if they park 100 yards in the right direction.........A car on bricks, CD player robbed, they wont come back again, maybe Clarkson and Co have been to Liverpool lately.

Liverpools "Dodgy Planners" and its Planning Committee Poodles, Pass Yet Another Carbuncle in the WHS.

You have to despair the corrupted planning system of not consulting the public, with the full approval of Joe Anderson, the council leader, this continues.
Yesterday plans were passed, off the cuff by the planning committee lapdogs to pass plans for a 34 storey skyscraper that the Liverpool City Council told Unesco would not be built.
That was one of the conditions for wriggling off the hook over the World Heritage planning blight.
I did not know about the meeting despite complaining to the council leader about the lack of consultation.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/plot-3a-princes-dock-1-william-jessop.html


Joe Anderson continues to do all he can to assist Peel Holdings.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/12/peel-holdings-being-helped-by-liverpool.html

Residents from the ugly City Lofts were even complaining about these plans.

The Princes Dock development is just outside of the World Heritage zone, but campaigner Florence Gersten, of Save Our City, slammed the "unstoppable increase" in the number of flats in the centre despite many being vacant.
Ms Gersten said: "I know you are going to renew this again.
"We are not objecting to the principle of development of this vacant land or other areas in the central docks area, but we do have concerns about this.
"We share the doubts of Princes Dock residents regarding this proposal for yet more flats.
"This seems to be a pointless but unstoppable increase in flats around the city centre.
"I do realise some people like very tall buildings but I’m not among them.
"I’m sure this fashion will eventually be regretted.
"The views of the Three Graces have been totally destroyed by the building of three large structures on the south side of Mann Island where there’s never been anything but small buildings."
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/16/princes-dock-skyscraper-approved-but-may-never-be-built-92534-28176963/2/
Peel were not available for comment last night the local papers said.
West Tower, which recently went into administration, in Brook Street is currently Liverpool’s tallest building at 40-storeys high.


http://whc.unesco.org/en/decisions/1922

Decision - 33COM 7B.130 - Liverpool – Maritime Mercantile City (United Kingdom) (C 1150)


The World Heritage Committee,
1. Having examined Document WHC-09/33.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decision 32 COM 7B.115, adopted at its 32nd session (Quebec City, 2008),
3. Notes the detailed information provided by State Party and particularly:

a) The development of the new Supplementary Planning Document addresses the management issues raised by the World Heritage Committee in paragraphs 3b and 4b of Decision 31 COM 7B.121 and paragraph 3b and 3c of Decision 32 COM 7B.115,
b) The final version of the Supplementary Planning Document is expected to be formally adopted by Liverpool City Council in June 2009,
c) The revised Evidential Report will be provided to the World Heritage Centre when available,
d) Progress on the improvement of the protection of World Heritage properties in England through changes to the planning system,
e) Preparation of an expanded Statement of Outstanding Universal Value,
f) The initiatives taken by the Liverpool City Council and other partners during 2008, particularly regarding the national statutory lists;
4. Requests the State Party to keep the World Heritage Centre informed on progress on the issues above.

Unesco were not informed of this development, in fact to the contrary, they were denied an imput.

Liverpool's "Dodgy Planners" and Beetham Tower.

How can the Liverpool City Council pass plans for a massive tower block in the world heritage buffer zone, on land, that the Land Registry wouldn't allow the flats contained therein in to be registered, because there is a flying freehold that should never have been considered suitable for building a tower on in the first place.
How come the city council allowed the developer Beetham to build over a highway.

Right from the onset of Liverpool's new found wealth, well, the ponsi scheme created by the council and its Liverpool Vision cling-ons funded by the North "Vested Interest" Development Agency, Mike Storey, now Lord Storey, was there giving our land away. Beetham Plaza which was Wilberforce House,was gifted to Beetham.
This plot was originally sold to Betham as a area for landscaping for their original boring tower.
The Fib-Dems even scrapped the City Councils Tall Building Policy to accommodate them and Grosvenor. I GAVE A COMMENT TO THE DAILY POST ON HOW OUTRAGOUS IT WAS THAT MIKE STOREY AND WARREN BRADLEY COULD DECIDE THIS.
What about the WHS buffer zone.

So given the garden adjacent his first erection, for a peppercorn, what does Hugh Frost, a client of mine who seemed, like a gentleman when he came in my shop, do.
Bungs in a planning application for a 37 storey tower on a plot the size of a postage stamp and Liverpool's Dodgy Planners say, Yes that will do nicely.
Now I am not saying there is any corruption going on, or has gone on, well not in public anyway, but it just goes to show the complete lack of stringency that should, have been adhered to, that seems to have been relaxed to accommodate a developer in this case. 

Is there corruption in the City Council and its planning department?
That is a question I was asked three times this week.
I refused to answer while I am building up a file, that is in depth, you see unless you keep your eye on the ball what goes past you with the slight of hand of a magician is bewildering.

And Beetham must have thought they had pulled a rabbit out of the hat when the, apparent, oversight of being given some land for, it was reported £163,000 turned int the price someone would pay for a broom cupboard in the flats. They even said Micheal Owen had taken a penthouse.well Larry Neild said so as city editor, creating this illusion of respectability and desire around it. It was later raided by the drug squad.

Charles Hubbard the vice chair at the time of the Merseyside Civic Society, whose son worked for Beetham handled the negotiations to save two listed cottaged in the shadow and on the grounds of the then proposed tower.........clever.
If there has ever been a waste of space, its the MCS.

If I recall Doreen Jones Liverpool's own Dame of Architectural Disaster, and her brief (for decades) Rex Makin walked out of a St Georges Hall Trustees meeting because Beetham had given £200,000 to the fund to restore the hall........how strange.

Then it all went wrong for Hughie and (estranged) Son.
Faced with not being able to register the properties he couldn't sell them on and his assetts sat losing money, because Beethams gearing at the bank was stacked the wrong side.
Now put the tower has now gone into administration and we the public are owed £750,000 by Beetham or one of its offsetts.

Last week it was reported that;

LIVERPOOL council officials are set for urgent talks with the administrators of the city’s West Tower over £750,000 it was due to be paid for “fresh air”.
In 2008 Mapfield Properties agreed to buy a patch of land and airspace beneath the 40-storey tower from the council.
Mapfield had been unable to sell luxury apartments in the skyscraper after the Land Registry refused to register potential sales because part of the building overhangs 36 square meter of public highway.
Mapfield – part of the wider Beetham family of companies – decided to buy the land in Brook Street to resolve the issue.
But the deal was never completed and the council has not received any money.
Now Mapfield has gone into administration the council faces a new round of negotiations with administrators Grant Thornton.
A council spokesman said: “We haven’t received the money from Mapfield.
“We have been negotiating with them. We were attempting to get a deal. But Mapfield has gone into administration.
“We are meeting the administrators early this week.”
Beetham originally bought the land on which the West Tower stands for just £163,000 in 2003 from Liverpool City Council. The deal led to an outcry over whether the council had got the best price for the land.
Read More http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/08/liverpool-council-chases-750-000-west-tower-payment-for-fresh-air-92534-28130883/

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/02/04/liverpool-s-west-tower-goes-into-administration-92534-28112749/

I had predicted this would happen some time ago. Trying for towers and generally building them as in Manchester with its massive Walkie Talkie whistling tower..I......ts behind you.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/bye-bye-beetham.html
Southwark council the subject of a Beetham planning application issued a statement  in March 2009.
It said;"At Southwark Council, we give a great deal of thought to the benefits very tall buildings actually bring to their local area. As a council with a large landholding, we understand the advantages of tall buildings in the right communities, but we will not allow something that gives Carte blanche to developers to build very tall buildings where they are not appropriate."


Then it seemed they had got out of the mess.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/liverpool-based-beethams-future-secured.html

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/03/27/liverpool-based-beetham-s-future-secured-with-go-ahead-for-london-tower-92534-23243999/


I wrote over a year ago about a strange comment Nigel Lee Liverpools Chief Planning disaster made, just how well did they know each other and why were they allowed to get away with this.

At a recent Architects Journal sponsored conference at Liverpools Crown Plaza hotel chaired by the obnoxious Paul Finch who was the editor of the Architectural Review and has far too much say for such a bad mouth attitude.
Nigel Lee Liverpool's modern day answer to the Luftwaffe speaking during a power-point presentation showing the mess his troops have deployed said and I quote
"Beetham have the biggest tower in Liverpool at 37 storeys high they also have a massive tower in Manchester and are planning one in London...the guys got a problem with erections, and all this because he has a little willy"
Not sure how he knows but this was in front of a packed room full of £435 fee paying delegates from all over the country.
I looked round as the room cringed. Can he really get away with this.

What about Liverpool Vision, or lack of its, roll in all this that Joe Anderson was on the board of at the time.
Oh and all this happened right next to the Daily Post and Echos headquarters....didn't anyone there look out the window.

AND SHOULDNT THERE BE A FULL INVESTIGATION INTO THIS TAWDRY AFFAIR.

Galkoff's, Pembroke Place-Butchered By Neglect

This not Kosher as far as I am concerned the bloke who runs the Liverpool History Society, a Mr Ainsworth. Who lets the building that he owns rot and then blames everyone else. If it was mine I would not wait for it to fall down and blame the council I would get a repairs order.........unless I was trying to shame them into giving me a grant.
http://www.liverpoolhistorysociety.org.uk/home.html
Its about time Mr Ainsworth started living up to his responsibilities.
visit the website its got pretty music http://galkoffs.tripod.com/

 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/listed-liverpool-pembroke-place-kosher.html
This is a post I did nearly one and a half years ago. read the comments.

3 comments:


Anonymous said...
You should remove your bad minded, ill informed comment. How do you expect someone to refurbish a property when the owners of the adjoining property have spent 19 years damaging ans neglecting it.
I know Rob and of his struggle to encourge LCC to do something with thier property. You should be suporting him not doing the work of LCC, Liverpool Vision and the LSTM or being thier monuth piece.
I am discusted in you and your phoney blog.

7 August 2009 22:40
Liverpool History Society said...

Dear Wayne,
can I ask that you please edit your blog entry regarding the comment "you have had ample time etc". I have been unable to restored my property for a considerable period due to the poor condition of the councils property, 31 Pembroke Place. This is the subject and other matters to my LGO complaint currently being investigated. I would appreciate matters if you would kindly remove this section. For further information on Galkoff`s please see the web link. galkoff.tripod.com. I intend to publish all the correspondence relating to this lamentable situation including more than 50 requests to the city council, councilors, MPs and quangos requesting repair or disposal of 31 over the last 15 years, so I can complete the restoration of 29 PP I started in 1990. A lot of people who have been following this matter for more than a decade know your comment is incorrect. If you require any further information on the situation please let me know.
Kind regards
Rob Ainsworth
8 August 2009 20:25

Liverpool Preservation Trust said...
Ummmmmmm 20 years to get no-where thats a strange one.
10 August 2009 10:58

Martins Bank-The c20 Society Raises Great Concerns Over Plans To Turn It Into A Hotel.

This is a letter from the C20 society to the Liverpool Planning department about the dodgy application for Martins Bank with a Xmas consultation period. Described by the then Thirties Society as the finest c20 Bank Building in Europe.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/01/martins-bank-another-dodgy-liverpool.html

http://northgate.liverpool.gov.uk/DocumentExplorer/Application/folderview.aspx?type=MVMPRD_DC_PLANAPP&key=771614 Planning docs





70 Cowcross Street

London EC1M 6EJ

telephone 020 7250 3857

fax 020 7251 8985

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY SOCIETY

Barbara Kirkbride
Liverpool City Council
Planning
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool L2 2DH

26 January 2011




administrator@C20society.org.uk

website:www.c20society.org.uk
Founded in 1979 as the Thirties Society to protect British Architecture and Design after 1914


Dear Barbara Kirkbride
Barclay's Bank (former Martins Bank), Water Street, Liverpool
Your ref 10F-2813 and 10L-2814    Our ref 10 01 02

The Society wishes to comment on the above planning and listed building consent
applications proposing: to convert the former office block (B1 Use) to 138 bed hotel (C1 Use).
The Society welcomes the proposals to have this significant Grade II* Listed building brought back to full use. However, we are deeply concerned about, and therefore object to, certain aspects of the proposals. Details of our position are presented below.

Pre-application consultation The Society expressed its interest in the former Martins Bank building, and any proposals for its re-use, about a year ago (letter dated 11 January 2010).
However, as you are of course aware, we have not been included in pre application discussions.
Statement of architectural and historical significance and ongoing research
As I am sure you are aware, the significance of the former Martins Bank building cannot be overestimated. Statutorily listed at Grade II*, the building is considered to be the masterpiece of Herbert J. Rowse and one of the ‘best interwar classical buildings in the country’. Its architectural significance is recognised to a great extent to lie in its richly decorated interiors – the main banking hall and director’s room being two remarkable examples.
Its local architectural and historical significance is no lesser: its design is considered to be a superior example of the American classicism promoted through Charles
Reilly's Liverpool School of Architecture. Designed and built for Martins Bank, which has its origins in the sixteenth century, the building is also part of the economic history of Liverpool.

Its architectural and historical significance is further highlighted by the fact that the building is currently included in a research project that looks into the direct connections between the architecture of Liverpool and New York. The Society understands that a permanent exhibition on the subject is to be held at the new Museum of Liverpool and the Liverpool School of Architecture is also involved.
Conversion of the Banking Hall
The Society objects to proposals to extend the mezzanine over the north end of the tellers' desk and introduce to two helical stairs.We consider the proposed mezzanine and helical stairs to be a totally
inappropriate addition that would have a detrimental impact on the Grade II* Listed building’s significance. As noted in its list description, one of the principal reasons for the building’s designation at Grade II* is that this is considered to be ‘one of the best interwar classical buildings in the country’. In
addition to our comments in the paragraph above, we believe that the proposed form of the mezzanine extension and two new stairs would detract from the ‘classical’ elegance and clarity of the banking hall’s original design.
As strongly argued in the PPG15 Statement, the interior of the banking hall is the most important space of the building, both as originally intended and as this survives today. Its qualities rest on both the proportions of the space and its rich finishes and furnishings (4.3.5). As further noted in the
same document, ‘certain areas of the interior ... are vulnerable to change. Thebanking hall is capable of accepting some interventions, but these should not adversely affect the integrity of the space’ (PPG15 Statement, 5.3.1). The massing, height and position of the proposed mezzanine extension and helical stairs would detract from the appreciation of the full volume, delicate proportions and skilful articulation of the original design of the banking hall.
We are also deeply concerned about the relationship between the proposed additions and the original horseshoe-shaped tellers’ desk. This original feature adds an interesting free-flowing figure to the predominantly rectilinear and orthogonal geometry of the banking hall. In addition to its detailing, the success of the desk is largely due to its restricted height and free-standing position. The proposed forms of the mezzanine extension and helical stairs would detract from, rather than enhance, the desk’s
valuable contribution to the hall’s plan form as a unique curvilinear form.

Infilling of roof top colonnades (ninth floor)
The Society objects to the proposed enclosure of the roof top colonnades.
The proposed infilling of the roof top colonnades would result in a major change of a vital part of the Grade II* Listed building. Of considerable height and occupying an entire urban block on its own, the Listed building has a very prominent presence within the urban fabric. Therefore the skilful articulation of its massing and the vertical completion of its volume are of high significance both in conservation and in cityscape terms. The hollow nature of these colonnades is probably their most distinctive and significant aspect: they visually lighten up the top level of the building, whilst they still retain the ‘classical’ character of its massing and detailing by providing a consistent roof line. As these colonnades can be seen from a number of ground-level, and several higher-level, viewpoints around the building (PPG15 Statement, 7.3.13), the proposed infilling of its roof top colonnades would have a detrimental impact on both the appreciation of the Listed building and the cityscape.

The Society is also deeply concerned about the actual design of the proposed infilling. The drawings that present this part of the proposed scheme demonstrate the great extent to which the new structures will result in a cramped combination of new and old fabric that leaves very little room for the appreciation of the original structure of these elegant colonnades.

Enclosure of the light well

The Society objects to the proposed enclosure of the light well in its current form.
We have no objections in principle to the proposed enclosure of the light well with a lightweight transparent roof that would be naturally ventilated.
However, according to the submitted scheme, the new roof would be inserted at the level of the roof of the roof top colonnades. We believe that this could be visible from neighbouring buildings through the roof top colonnades (which, as discussed above, we believe should not be infilled)and would therefore be an obtrusive new feature at the highest point of the Listed building. Again, this would have a detrimental impact on both the appreciation of the Listed building and the cityscape.
We would expect that the insertion of a lightweight transparent roof would be at the level of the ninth floor, that is, right above the top edge of the light well. This would restrict the visual impact of the new element and maintain the existing hierarchy as far as the roof massing and the special role of the two colonnades are concerned.
Intermediate floors

The Society is concerned about some of the design decisions concerning the arrangement of hotel bedrooms on the intermediate floors. We believe it is important that all new design matches the design quality of the historic building as this is reflected in its high Listing status at Grade II*. Therefore we believe that bending division walls should be avoided and new spaces should retain the clear geometry of the Listed building.
We hope our comments will be of help and taken into consideration. We would greatly appreciate if you kept us informed of any future developments of the case.Should you require some clarification on any of the above, do not hesitate to contact me.


Remit: The Twentieth Century Society was founded in 1979 and is the national amenity society concerned with the protection, appreciation, and study of post-1914 architecture, townscape and design. The Society is acknowledged in national planning guidance as the key organisation concerned with the modern period (see
Annex to PPG15), and is a constituent member of the Joint Committee of the National Amenity Societies. Under the procedures set out in ODPM Circular 09/2005, all English local planning authorities must inform the Twentieth Century Society when an application for listed building consent involving partial or total demolition is received, and they must notify us of the decisions taken on these applications.

Yours sincerely
Dr Christina Malathouni
Caseworker

Henry Owen-John, North West Planning and Development Director,
English Heritage
Professor Neil Jackson, School of Architecture, University of Liverpool

.................................................
It seems that the council planners had deliberatly not contacted the c20 society the statuary consultees on c20 architecture of who I am a member and have elisted their help.


It is evident from correspondencewhy they did not wish to consult them.

I have raised a complaint to Joe Anderson and the CE over the way the planning application was, I feel deliberatly buried in the Xmas snow. There is one every year. The C20 has a lot of wieght behind it and we thank them for their kind attention over a matter as significent as the redevelopment of Martins Bank Buildings described by them in their visit in 1988 as the finest bank building in Europe.

It is of great concern to us all. Martins with its slave trading iconography carved on the building by Herbert Tyson Smith, and the links through Gresham Bank(hence the Liver Bird and the Grashopper as emblem). The Greshams who were slave trading financiers merged and were subsequently taken over by Martins and then Barclays( with, their wartime links).

The planning application goes no-where in explaining the magnitude of this historic structure.
http://northgate.liverpool.gov.uk/DocumentExplorer/Application/folderview.aspx?type=MVMPRD_DC_PLANAPP&key=771614
Liverpool City Council Planning Department should be seen to be creating a level playing field so that we the public can see what is happening. Without this visibility it could be construed that meetings behind closed doors are what truly happens with Liverpool's planning applications for buildings of historical importance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martins_Bank planning objections need to be in by 2nd Feb
All in all, this is of importance to all who care passionatly about Liverpools history. We welcome bringing this building of such architectural significance to the the publics attention.
The argument will be to get this developed and in use but they have deliberatly chosen to change its use from the purpose it was actually built for.......not once have the current owners tried to re-open it as.......A Bank.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/01/martins-bank-twentieth-century-society.html