Save The Liverpool World Heritage Site.

Yes it has got to that stage now, those that have done the damage are now trying to manipulate the centre ground in the publicity stakes, using all the usual rubbish like cities need to evolve and move, they dont mention the carbuncles.http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/12/02/queen-and-duke-of-edinburgh-visit-the-new-museum-of-liverpool-and-royal-liver-building-92534-29880958/ Yesterday it was the Queen who visited the Carbuncle Museum, it was strange watching the black Hearse pass the "Three Black Coffins" at Mann Island.

Phil Redmond met the Queen, as Chairman of Liverpool Museums, oh and Mike McCartney.......isnt there anyone else. He mentions it in his column in the Daily Ghost (at least one reason for closing the paper down). http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/letters-to-editor/2011/12/02/phil-redmond-it-should-not-all-be-up-to-unesco-92534-29880882/
He says;
ONE of the greatest symbols of our shared heritage, the Monarchy, was on display this week with the Queen opening the Museum of Liverpool before going on to the Liver Buildings and then the Floral Pavilion on the Wirral.

Symbols of past, present and future but a reminder that our real World Heritage Status is simply the region’s shared past, present and future. We should neither rely on, nor be cavalier about, whatever the likes of Unesco think or decide, but we need a balanced view.
It can be no coincidence, even perhaps some comfort, to discover that London Tower is also in danger of joining Dresden in being “struck off”, because of the encroachment of modern development.
Perhaps the real issue, then, is that modern cities will always want to evolve and change, so should Unesco really be trying to classify city centres, no matter how worthy.

Strange that Phil who lives in Tarporly in leafy Cheshire told me pointing to the new museum and Mann Island, during a conversation I was having with Tristram Hunt who wrote an article on Liverpool for the Times. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/liverpool-capital-of-vandalism.html

"They should have built all this on the Wirral, but at least it will fall down in 50 years" 


Further reading
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html

Museum of Liverpool-Shoddy And Defective, Another Legal Battle Commences.

Several months ago I wrote about the shoddy and defective work on the Museum of Liverpool when a ceiling fell in, injuring workmen, the local papers did not print the story.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/06/legal-row-hangs-over-liverpool-museum.html

THE architects involved in the construction of Liverpool's new £72m Museum have been accused of making a series of errors as part of a £3.5m High Court claim.
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/11/05/museum-of-liverpool-architects-accused-of-series-of-errors-in-3-5m-high-court-claim-100252-29725784/   Alan Weston writes;

The court documents, now lodged in London’s High Court, accuse architects and lead consultants AEW of negligence, breach of contract, and shoddy workmanship which was both “defective and dangerous”.
It is also alleged the architects made changes without consultation – and, in some cases, planning permission – during the construction of the flagship waterfront building.
Problems with the design culminated in a large number of panels in one of the gallery ceilings falling and injuring a workman on May 25 this year – just two months before the museum opened to the public.
The claim by National Museum Liverpool states that a “material cause of the collapse was the defective design of the ceiling ... upon investigating that collapse, NML identified the said unconventional and defective support system used for those ceilings.”
NML said the poor quality of the workmanship meant that 2,000 sq m of public space had been affected, including two major galleries and significant parts of the ground floor.
It adds: “The net result is that notwithstanding the fact that over 750,000 people (including 100,000 schoolchildren) will visit the Museum over the next 12 months, it is unable to offer anything like the experience it should and would be able to had the collapse not occurred.”
NML is making the multi-million pound claim to recover its costs in correcting the defects which came to light. No date has yet been set for the hearing.
Manchester-based architects AEW took over the design of the new Museum of Liverpool after previous architects – Dutch firm 3XN – were sacked by the museum operator. This is now the subject of a separate legal action by NML.
As previously reported, the museum operator was also unhappy with the quality of the work carried out on the outdoor steps of the new building at the Pier Head. NML argued that the design for the steps and terraces was “unworkable/unbuildable”, and that work was undertaken without the organisation’s consent or not to its liking.
In particular, a plinth – designed to correct a previous mistake in the design – “did not have planning permission and is inappropriate and unacceptable in terms of safety, utility and aesthetics”.
The steps were also inadequately water resistant, leaving the plant and artefact storage rooms vulnerable to water damage. For this reason, the steps and terraces are still closed to the public while remedial work is carried out.
NML chairman Phil Redmond said: “It’s really unfortunate the only mechanisms open to us to resolve these issues is by going through the legal process.
“We have an obligation to protect the public purse and this is only the mechanism we can go to in the end.”
The board and trustees of NML have already been forced to pay back £500,000 to AEW in withheld fees.
AEW said it was unable to comment because of a “confidentiality agreement”.
A spokesman for National Museums Liverpool said: “We can confirm we have issued legal proceedings against AEW and 3XN and therefore can make no further comment at this stage.”
The Museum of Liverpool, which opened its doors to the public in July, is the first national museum to be built in more than a century. Despite its problems, the museum has received 500,000 visitors in just three months. The second phase of work at the landmark building, which includes the Overhead Railway, will be officially unveiled on December 2nd.


So at the new unveiling date.........mind your heads.
Can we also get a ceiling on the spiraling costs never mind the spiral staircase.

Museum of Liverpool-More Legal Action.

Liverpool Museums ae now in a further set of legal action.....this time over the museum steps.
How can a bunch of bungling buffoons led by David Fleming and Phil Redmond get away with such incompetence. Both should go now.
 NML chairman Phil Redmond said: “We will fight robustly to protect the public purse. It’s amazingly frustrating that we have to go through legalistic procedures, but it is the only mechanism we have.”
 pic ROME MAXXI well they do look the same don't they.


Yes he would say that, this is the plastic scouser who does not live in Liverpool that defended the £750,000 that was paid to Downing over the breach of covenants over protected views that should have seen a pay off to every Liverpudlian for an act of architectural vandalism.
He doesnt even own up to here he lives does our Phil.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/phil-redmonds-house-is-featured-in.html
Now there is a 500k dispute over the museum steps.
David Bartlett reports http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2011/09/29/museum-of-liverpool-new-legal-action-against-aew-architects-over-museum-steps-92534-29505728/
How can you sack an architect and then expect the project to go well. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/05/museum-of-liverpool-sues-3xn-architects.html
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/museum-of-liverpool-cock-up-work-stops.html



I wrote of this a year ago

Just how can this saga end? will Fleming go or will he be pushed? http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/09/david-fleming-of-nml-will-he-go-or-will.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/06/legal-row-hangs-over-liverpool-museum.html

You could not make this up if you tried. This is the building that came runner up in BD's Carbuncle Cup competition for the worst designed building of 2011.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2011/09/museum-of-liverpool-runner-up-in-2011.html

Liverpool Conservation Centre To Close Its Doors To The Public-The Decline of NML Continues.

Liverpool Conservation Centre to close its doors to the public

Dec 13 2010

by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post
LIVERPOOL’S flagship conservation centre will permanently close its doors to the public at the end of the week.
Art lovers have been able to have free entry to the Whitechapel-based National Conservation Centre for 14 years.
But museums bosses facing a 15% budget cut said it has to close its doors.
The conservation work done there will continue, and its permanent exhibition – Revealed: the Hidden Stories of Objects – will be moved to the World Museum.
But several staff are likely to be affected by the closure.
NML director Dr David Fleming said: “We bitterly regret having to close one of our venues to visitors, but this is the harsh reality of government cuts. The National Conservation Centre was a very popular venue that staged many fantastic photographic exhibitions and other events over the last 14 years.”

This what happens when you let a twasser like Dr David Fleming loose with too much money, he puts all his eggs in one new museum basket and the rest of the once proud establishment starts to decline.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/10/liverpool-black-history-month-will-dr.html
Not only does he want all young black men to feel shit but everyone associated with NML.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/11/maritime-disaster-at-merseyside.html
Couldnt Phil Redmond-stien have found some volunteers to man it.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/phil-redmonds-house-is-featured-in.html


What a disgrace, and it will get worse.

Why Does Merseytravel Own Ringo's House in Madryn Street?

Paul McCartney at a gig at the reproduction of The Cavern in 2007 said "We are glad to be here at the Cavern.......I cant believe they knocked the original one down".
Yes this is the city that knocked down the Cavern Club just before it called itself Beatles city, and then built a repro, not even in its place.
 It is the 11th hour and 55 minutes for Ringo's birthplace. He may not be the most liked person in the city after saying he did not regret leaving Liverpool in a smurky manner on the Jonothan Woss show.
Ringo was bad at the opening ceremony of European Capital of Culture organised by Jane Casey of Big in Japan or was that, Big in A Can.
How original to hoist a metal container over St Georges Hall, the same container that seen off all the Liverpool dockers, and have Dave Stewart from Newcastle join Ringo. How Rongo was that? It was tacky. It was the poor little children carrying lanterns inside plastic stacking crates still with the £2.99 Rapid Hardware stickers on that I felt sorry for.
And Baron Redmondstien, we created a monster, shouting "Errr love me do, will yeh" and then buggering off home to Tarporly.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/phil-redmonds-house-is-featured-in.html
Yes it was that grim. And you couldn't say anything there was a hush that meant you had to go along with it all.
2008, The disguise that hid the World Heritage decimation and the gift to Grosvenor of a third of the city centre. Its head honcho Rod Holmes who works for the Mersey Partnership..........one day a week, who does not live here, has now proclaimed
"Even without the Ringo house we still have enough Original Beatles sites".
 This is the bloke who has just erected the godawful 'Give Peas a Chance' piece of junk in Grosvenor-pool on Chavasse Lawn.
 http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/10/peace-monument-unveiled-for-john.html
Holmes said to me he rushed Chavasse Park. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/06/rod-holmes-came-in-my-shop-today.html
A monument to greed and now bad taste in sculpture as well as architecture. http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/11/grosvenor-pool-garment-led-renaissance.html
"We are hardly ignoring the value of Beatles Tourism" he says in the LDP business week magazine. There is obviously someone still at the paper with a heritage conscience to write this contoversial stuff, even if it is supressed by "Physco" Bill Gleeson the business editor.
Rod Holmes will probably complain and that will be that covered up by the cowards at the editorial level.
It has now come to light that Merseytravel owns the house in Madryn Street.
What is Neil Scales doing meddling in local politics? This is a man who knows nothing of our heritage.
Is he going to break it into five so you can walk through it like he did with U-534, The Vandal. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/u-534-cut-up-into-five-pieces-by-neil.html read this it came out.
Or will he commission the dreaded Tom Murphy to put a Ken Dodd up in the new estate, if anything ever gets built, as a legacy of 2008?
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/liverpool-european-capital-ofbad.html

So as New Heartlands the council rip the heart out of an area and then say we are going to rebuild it...Clever, really clever.
Neil Scales is out of control and should not have interfered here.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/joe-anderson-to-save-liverpools.html
There is still time to save Ringo's house. Joe Anderson should intevene instead of making excuses.
He said he will scrap home demolitions http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/05/liverpools-joe-anderson-we-will-scrap.html So why cant he scrap this one.

Maritime Disaster at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Our friends at Seven Streets highlighted last week, the lack of diners at the Maritime Museum Dining Rooms at the Albert Dock. Another one of the wacky director, Dr David Flemings schemes, overseen by the trustees and their Chairman Big Society Tory Phil Redmond.                They call it a Fright at the Museum and its delicous stuff. http://www.sevenstreets.com/food-and-drink/a-fright-at-the-museum/  Served up on a platter of irony with just a touch of relish on the side. Here is what the racist comment maker "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming had to say about it in the museum insider in 2009 when it opened. click on the pics Hey he's so clever.

Maybe considering its next to the slavery museum his wishes to make "all young black men feel shit" it has worked. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/i-want-all-young-black-men-to-feel-shit.html
Maybe that's why there is nobody there. Seven Streets show a picture, they were just a bit late with the shutter speed to catch the tumbleweed drifting through. 
They say, "How to take a winning formula and kill it stone dead. Why Merseyside Maritime Museum's Restaurant has sunk without trace"...  worth a read.


I commented at the time. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/maritime-dining-rooms-maritime-disaster.html

 
 When the tin pot dictator, I mean director took out all the Herculaneum pottery, because in my opinion he is not educated enough to understand how important it is to Liverpool history and how volunteers painstakingly researched and built up the collection over decades. Only to see a racist comment maker, who thinks he's clever destroy their hard work for another cafe.
He should have been a director of Starbucks not our museums.

Or maybe its because of the way the Pier head looks.
Now to enter the Maritime Museum you have to go past the awful Mann Island and past the obnoxious scrawling architectural disaster that is the new museum. That some people at Seven Sheets seem to like, well there is no accounting for taste, but there are other views there too. http://www.sevenstreets.com/city-living/feature-city-living/total-eclipse-of-the-heart-mann-island/
Remember though that the Mann Island Coffins designed by Matt Brooks, http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2006/03/09/this-is-architect-matt-brook-s-vision-for-the-pier-head-is-it-right-for-the-waterfront-100252-16793395/ oh, and the museum, along with the Canal Cut are of the same funding package and were always treated as one.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/07/mann-island-funds-new-museum-its-fact.html

I am reliably informed that Morrissey worshiper, Dicky Felt-tip, Flemings personal PR is under instructions to distance all publicity linking the museum, the White Coffin, to the Black Coffins.    

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-now-he-is-winging.html  Whinging about budget cuts.
Don't let them get to you, if so much money had not have been wasted paying out for covenants or settling legal disputes, or wasted on overcharging http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/09/museum-of-liverpool-contractors.html     the once proud institution would not be in such a financial mess.

Well what do you expect from a regime whose directors favourite museum is The Museum of Genocide Victims in Vilnius and who wants "all young black men to feel shit"

Sharon Granville, of Liverpool Museums,Is Sent Out Again To Front Flemings Folly.

What does it take to work for Liverpool Museums? I know some of the most hardworking and respectable scholars in the country that work there.......and then there are those who are blind, who just run round sorting out Flemings cock-ups. Sharon Granville is one of those. She writes in to the Daily Ghost defending the abysmal level of cock ups, this time saying.

Museum story


REGARDING your article on Tuesday, August 24, concerning the new Museum of Liverpool, I would like to clarify some points: the building contract with the main contractor (PGT) is intact.
There is no issue of an expiry date or any need for renewal. All building contracts provide for a 12-month snagging period post-completion. The fact that a reduced PGT team is currently on site is completely unremarkable.
There is no question over the museum ownership: both the museum and the land are owned by National Museums Liverpool. The exhibition fit-out contract is under way, and the museum will open in 2011.
Sharon Granville, Project Director, Museum of Liverpool
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/letters-to-editor/2010/09/01/letters-to-the-editor-september-1-92534-27176431/

She has written in a few time defending the old tin-pot running the place.
Defending Flemings Folly behaving like a museum Directors lap-dog.
If she is the project director then she should be sacked for the abysmal display of ineptitude.

Dicky Felt-tip P.A and Morrissey lover, the new high powered museum blagger wont be far behind this one either.
What will they do to defend him next when the muck hits the fan? http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/08/dr-david-fleming-to-be-investigated-by.html
What will they do when they are sacked and their jobs are done by volunteers? http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/are-liverpool-museums-skint-phil.html

How can you defend such a pointless waste of tax-payers money?
Unless you are the ones wasting the dosh.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-faced-liverpool-museums-will-alsop.html




http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/03/03/new-pier-head-museum-will-offer-great-views-of-mersey-64375-20549233/

Just look at the views above ruined for Flemings Folly who in his capacity as Director of the International Slavery Museum on Merseyside says he wants all young black men to feel shit.
Get him out.

Phil Redmond's House, Is Featured In Cheshire Life.

No they wont be having many Scouse weddings in this part of leafy Cheshire. In the hamlet of Utkington by Tarporly. While he is organising Camerons "Big Society" and telling us all to volunteer to run the underfunded Liverpool Museums. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/are-liverpool-museums-skint-phil.html Phil, whose wife, Alexis has been the trustee responsible for finances at National Museums Liverpool for years needs to take a long hard look at the script he has served up for those scousers that he pretends to be one of.
Phil, Lord of the Manor, Redmond, should be a little less patronising to those good people of Liverpool and stop pretending he lives here in the city when in reality he hires a team of gardners and serfs to mow his lawn, and do all his menials.
Dr Redmonds House has a history of volunteers being at one time the base for a sort of sect called the Moral Re-Armemant Movement.
Not quite a Mosely Blackshirts organisation but well a sort of "Big Society" idea to transform the country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Re-Armament
It was apposed by C.S Lewis who was against the group, and said "If you try to suppress 'it' you only make martyrs".
The Oxord group was led by Frank Buchman  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buchman who once said "I thank Heaven for a man like Adolf Hitler".
Tom Dryberg described Buchman as a soapy racketeer.
Was it Oxford or Eton that Cameron attended? Anyhow big ideas Phil may well and truly be in his own world now.  But he is kidding the people of this city. All Millionares together telling us to tighten our belts.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html

Are Liverpool Museums Skint-Phil Redmond Wants It Run By Volunteers.

Here is a perfect example of some-one out to feather their own nest. Phil Redmond-The Professional Scouser who lives in Tarporly, in leafy Cheshire. They dont have many scouse weddings in that kneck of the woods. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html
Now because NML is skint and to save embarrasment to the big wigs at NML of which Phil is Chairman, and his wife Alexis is trustee responsible for finances, they now hatch a giant plot to blame everybody else but themselves. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-now-he-is-winging.html
Redmond says,
One is broadening out the current volunteer scheme at National Museums Liverpool (NML) - where Mr Redmond is chairman - which helps give practical work experience and transferable skills such as First Aid training to jobless people. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//2010/07/19/liverpool-s-phil-redmond-unveiled-as-coalition-government-s-new-local-innovation-champion-100252-26882670/2/

You build a new museum and then cut back on staff, now thats clever Phil.
Despite disbanding the Friends of Liverpool Museums who were helping run the museums he now wants them to come back minus any dissenters such as Andrew Pearce.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html This is what Correspondent says.


Redmond in the usual droll manner says,
“There is a model here for us to let people run public assets such as museums, libraries and council services outside normal staffing hours.
“Such training could be used to gain an employer-recognised qualification.”
Another plan is for exhibitions to be held as a platform for people to put forward their own ideas on how local services could be improved.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/dr-david-fleming-five-faces-of.html They are Skint.

Here is my idea don't waste £78,000,000 pounds on a museum that nobody wants, or needs and you will be able to have a professional service at NML.

Dr David Fleming-The Five Faces of Liverpool Museums.

Lets imagine the scenario yesterday by 12 am a full two page letter would have been received at the editors office, of Trinity Mirror complaining about the days press coverage of the museums being, effectively sued by AEN, the new architects, after the previous ones, 3XN were sacked. David Fleming will have expressed concerns about where the news came from and what sources had given the news over to the papers. He will have been sick as a Dodo.

Trinity “Smoking” Mirrors had tried to delay it, purposely in my opinion to give them a chance to put some more fluffy stuff in, but they were never going to get around this one. Ben Schofield will have put his tin hat on again for fear of being sued, Fleming has threatened him before.
Last week at a Union meeting staff discussed the impending cuts to the museum services. All this while David “Fuzzy Felt” Fleming wastes more public funds. It is now generally accepted that this big White Elephant-On-Sea is lurching from one disaster to another.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/trinity-smoking-mirrors-advertorial-for.html
The new press officer at NML, Dicky Felton, yes you heard it right, would have chipped in with a few e-mails, "it wasn’t adjudication, it was arbitration" he would have said. Really who gives a carrot about this rubbish trying to scare the papers into not reporting the truth? Bullying Mark Thomas and it worked last time when the major story about the £750,000 covenant pay off the Port of Liverpool Building owners, when Phil Redmond had it suppressed with personal intervention. Alastair and Phil get quite close at times.

Will Alsop declared last week http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/06/two-faced-liverpool-museums-will-alsop.html  saying I feel that the Liverpool museums who were stakeholders in the project always had their own agenda and were not helpful. Indeed, you could say perhaps even two faced. 

Dicky Felton was not even told by Fuzzy Felt Fleming about this £500,000 dispute, and now extra pay-off to the architects. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/07/museum-of-liverpool-cock-up-work-stops.html
At a time when nursing homes are closing all over the city, our museums waste millions.
How many faces do you need to be a museum director? How can you be a press officer and not be informed about such a disaster. Where did Dicky used to work? At Trinity Mirror, thats a coincidence.

So on 2nd July Museum Chairman, Phil Redmond had used his column in the Daily Ghost to announce that the staff at our once great institution are under pressure in recent times. Click the picture to enlarge.
It says
"Teamwork is something we are all going to appreciate, and perhaps need help, in the coming months, if not years, as the full impact of the budget starts to sink in. Already the public sector has been told to look for cuts, sorry efficiencies, of up to 30%, as we have at National Museums Liverrpool, alongside the rest of the cultural sector".

And then they waste £750,000 paying off a covenant, half a million to the architects, then the floor needs to come up. And then they are telling the staff to tighten their belts, it does not seem right.

Morrissey Lover, Dickie Fenton has been brought in, at extra expense to try and smooth out all the extra cock up money, how much is he being payed while staff worry about their jobs. This combined with visitor numbers being down significantly, because, NML sources say, of Grosvenor-pool taking the footfall in a differing direction. Some-one needs sacking and, in my opinion, he has got five faces.

Wayne Colquhoun

Museum of Liverpool-Where Has All The Cash Gone.

How can a public body waste so much money and get no-where. Promised opening time 2008 then 2009, 2010......now 2011...actual opening time well just make it up, they do.
Todays Architects Journal carries a story saying that the NEW ARCHITECTS ARE NOT BEING PAID.
Richard Waite from the AJ reports.
The ongoing saga surrounding the £72 million Museum of Liverpool has taken another twist – this time over unpaid fees to project architect AEW

The Manchester-based practice, which replaced Danish firm 3XN on the scheme in late 2007 (AJ 15.11.07), is understood to be heading towards adjudication over more than £100,000 in outstanding ‘additional’ fees.
Although the practice was unable to comment due to confidentiality clauses, a source close to the project said the museum was ‘fighting a rearguard action’ to try and keep costs down.
A spokesman for National Museums Liverpool was unwilling to clarify what led to the dispute, saying: ‘As in all major projects, issues regarding fees are private matters between the parties concerned.’
However, the museum refuted rumours that project manager Mace, which took over from Mott MacDonald in August last year, has left the project.
Engineer Buro Happold, when asked whether it had been paid, simply said: ‘We have a good working relationship with our client on this project. The fit-outs are about to commence on site and we are looking forward to future opportunities with them.’
It is believed fees are still owed to 3XN, although the firm agreed to be called the scheme’s ‘creative architect’ following a battle over copyright issues earlier this year.

Initially scheduled to complete externally in 2008, the Museum of Liverpool is not now due to open until summer 2011.
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/daily-news/-museum-of-liverpool-wrangles-with-aew-over-unpaid-fees/8600805.article
Not a mention in the Oldham Echo or the Daily Ghost. Is it Trinity "Smoking" Mirrors.

David "Fuzzy Felt" Fleming http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/David%20Fleming is still there how come he has not been sacked. He managed to get Loyd Grossman sacked as Chairman of NML, by reporting him to the DCMS http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/loyd-grossman-lectures-us-on-heritage.html A post taken over by plastic scouser Phil Redmond http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-trustees-have.html who lives in Tarporly, stating that he couldn't work with him and how come this world heritage vandal can not get on with anyone.

The picture is the ROME MAXXI which opened in 2009..well they look the same.

Flemings Folly-Liverpools New Museum, One Disaster after Another.

Now Fuzzy Felt Fleming with Professional Scouser Dr Phil Redmond in tow is to make swinging cuts to the loyal staff at NML. .http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html  That is those who have not already been made redundant, and there are many. As NML has already culled off a lot of staff, or made it too difficult for a lot of those loyal staff to comprimise their principles so they have have left. Alexis Redmond, Phil’s wife does the finances…badly…at NML, and it is now for sure that Flemings Folly the new museum that they are trying to sell us, has drained the resourses to such an extent that the staff are now to bear the brunt of the cuts. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-trustees-have.html

I received an anonymous letter from a member of staff at NML stating that the staff will no longer be able to wear badges with their names on, so much for the art of communication.
It goes on to finish.” Just another week in the mad/maddening world of NML as administered by David Fleming.
Flem blames the government for these cuts stating the institution was like thousands of publicly funded organisations facing cut backs.

He said NML was braced for bad news, but that he would not allow budget cuts to stop the institution from running the best museums in the country.
The opening the new Museum of Liverpool at Mann Island will be one of NML’s key priorities when making decisions on spending, the briefing note states.
As a general principle, there will be a recruitment freeze, although managers will be able to lobby the executive team if they feel a post is crucial.
“Managers will need to consider whether the post could be covered on reduced hours,” the note states.
“Like almost every public sector organisation facing these uncertainties, we will need to work with the unions to look at the feasibility of voluntary redundancy and early retirement policy.”
There will also be opportunities for staff to request part time, flexible working, a career break or unpaid sabbatical.
“We anticipate that following the next General Election, in common with all publicly funded organisations, we will face a difficult time,” the note states. “There are indications that we should expect a significant cut to our budgets during the period 2010 to 2014.
“We need to prepare ourselves for cutbacks and put measures in place to manage expenditure and at the same time deliver our strategic objectives.”
It states that NML is determined to continue growing its audience growth.
Last night, Dr Fleming said: “We are one of thousands of publicly-funded organisations nationwide likely to face cuts to our budgets.
“It is very difficult to predict what may happen when the next round of grants is announced, but clearly the public sector can expect bad news.
“It would very naive of National Museums Liverpool to assume that our grant will remain at the same level.
“That’s why it makes sense for us to prepare for challenging times ahead.
“We want to safeguard jobs as far as we are able, and we want to enable as many people as possible to continue to enjoy the marvellous cultural and educational opportunities offered by our museums.”
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/museum-of-liverpool-are-trustees-out-of.html
What a disgrace he fails to mention that they have just paid £750,000 of the museums money to a property developer next to the new museum………how very convenient and how unloyal to those staff who he has not already upset http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/watching-detectives.html  During this interview he said: "Why is it that most curators and museum staff are completely dysfunctional in normal society?
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-columnists/mr-brocklebank/2009/01/27/mr-brocklebank-inspired-leadership-64375-22789200/

Just who does he think he is how can you upset the staff like this.
So the new dawn of a new museum is destroying the institution that was.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/03/manchester-docks-obliterated.html

Some recent PR disasters by his Feltness.
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/3xn_boss_slams_meddling_museum_of_liverpool.html
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/3xn_and_the_museum_of_liverpool_part_company.html
http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/dailynews/3xns_museum_of_liverpool_is_revived.htm
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/03/03/new-pier-head-museum-will-offer-great-views-of-mersey-64375-20549233/
http://www.apollo-magazine.com/news-and-comment/architecture/502421/looking-after-liverpool.thtml

Redmond said in the local press yesterday.
“The new Museum of Liverpool is not a ‘Museum of Scouseology’, but the only new national and international one outside a capital city.
“The 2.8m visitors to NML in 2008 had an economic impact of £120m.
“While 45% of our visitors are from Merseyside, that means 55% are not.
“In terms of visitor spend, they are more valuable, especially as 10% of those are international.
“To me, that’s a really good and interesting profile.”
NML is practically the elephant in the city region tourism enclosure, so big and long-term is its presence.
It spreads down William Brown Street with the Walker Gallery and World Museum, along the waterfront with the Mersey Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum and new Museum of Liverpool and into Wirral with the Lady Lever Gallery.
He reckons there is even room for one more between the new Museum and the Albert Dock.
“We have national museums in Liverpool and national museums outside Liverpool,” said Prof Redmond.
“We do not celebrate that enough. The new museum encapsulates how this particular city played such a crucially interesting role in the modern world.
“We have more to tell than just celebrating the Grand National or the Kop.
“Going back to the first dock in 1707, we revolutionised sea trade and it’s about explaining this strange place we came to occupy in the world.
“The decision to build the museum in that waterfront position reflects that history.
“We went for a memorable shape, which was the brave and right thing to do.
“This is called the ‘Bilbao effect’ as that Spanish city, which is very similar to Liverpool, was the first to revive itself with an iconic new museum.
“My other focus as chairman is to make sure the International Slavery Museum is not only about social justice, but about he fact that slavery still exists.”
When completed in 2011, the waterfront museums’ “cultural offer” will be equivalent to London’s South Kensington museum range, he believes.
“The waterfront museums are linked to the adjacent hotels, Arena and Convention Centre,” said Prof Redmond.
“We’ve got to work together to sell the brand, as we’re a cold-water, northern city.
“We have to market ourselves in a different way.
“People who come to see the football generally aren’t going to visit the museums.
“But those who visit Aintree might do. It’s what I call ‘dwell time’.
“If you come to shop, arrive four hours earlier and do something else.
“By being smart, we convert £30-spend-a-head visitors into £45 ones.”

So how come he told me in front of Tristram Hunt that it should have been built in Birkenhead?
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/03/26/jelly-mould-exhibition-at-sudley-house-mossley-hill-92534-26113145/

Today Sudley House part of NML opens a exhibition of jelly moulds………it just sums it all up really our once proud institution is now dumbed down to Hollyoaks culture.

Museum of Liverpool-Flemings Folly

I have just done a brief interview with Winifred Robinson for You and Yours Radio 4 to be broadcast on Friday morning about the New Museum-Flemings Folly. Phil Redmond as Chairman of Liverpool Museums was also to do an interview http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html  but cancalled it so its Fleming standing in. Lets guess what he will say in a broad gay sounding Yorkshire accent "Well all those years ago when they built the Catholic Cathedral they hated it and now its a piece of Liverpools heritage".  Thats what he always says.
The Cathedral too ran out of money and they had to go cap in hand like the new carbuncle, it was unaffectionatly chtistened Paddy's Wigwam by Arthur Dooley. So what name is going to stick with Flemings Folly......squoshed ciggy packet, the sun lounger.....The Trashy Tart next to our three ageing edwardian beauties, the Three Graces is indeed a carbuncle. The New Terminal Ferry Building http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/liverpool-wins-carbuncle-cup.html was built to resemble it and that won the BD Carbuncle cup award for 2009. He will try to sell it on the basis that it gives views out of the giant Rome MAXXI rip off http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/museum-of-liverpool-sad-rip-off-of.html TV Screen..........but in creating the views it has destroyed the World Heritage Site. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/loyd-grossman-lectures-us-on-heritage.html No wonder Loyd Grossman buggered off. Oh but we will love it one day he has said well you are wrong Fuzz its an anachronism. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/museum-of-liverpool-trustees-have.html  

Museum of Liverpool-The Trustees Have Stolen Our Views.

And we have all lost something dear to us that cannot be replaced at any cost. In his column today courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post, the morning museum, Phil Redmond tries to placate the need to waste £750,000 of our cash on "Flemings Folly" which has destroyed the world heritage site. The Rome MAXXI rip off museum is a view that was well worth paying for he says. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/03/phil-redmond-professional-scouser.html   Despite him telling me it should have been built in Birkenhead. So the scouse wedding at the Liverpool Museums is over and now they will all sit down and have a drink. No, its one disaster to another and Phil as chief placater tries hard but gets it completely wrong. I have written to Phil Redmond because I dont think all the facts are out, it is not just a restrictive covenant that is the problem here and we need more answers, there is an act of Parliament. The Liverpool Daily Ghost (dead man walking) should be doing this. It was not one building owners view to give away, it belonged to all of us, something we could have for free. Our Iconic views our heritage and dont forget they destroyed Manchester Docks. How small minded the argument that we needed to destroy our best asset our world heritage site to do it is. People are waking up to this but with the Daily Museum working overtime hiding information, the propoganda machine keeps on turning. Others are not convinced http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/03/believe-it-or-not-this-band-came-from.html but the local papers hold the circulation and thrust the views of Redmond onto the public without our say. He and "Fuzzy Felt Fleming bully editors but even they couldnt get this one past the Echo. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//2010/02/24/revealed-tax-payer-funded-national-museums-liverpool-paid-out-750k-for-spoiling-a-waterfront-view-100252-25901760/  

The truth is that there was a small group of people with the power that came up with this idea. Mike Storey was a trustee of NML (Disgraced Council leader had to resighn) before Redmond came along but Alexis Redmond has been there since the inception of the big white Elephant-On-Sea. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/liverpool-museums-how-much-have-they.html  One trustee resigned because of Phil and Alexis formed a conflict of interests at the Museum.  http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/museum-of-liverpool-are-trustees-out-of.html The trustees are out of control.

They have stolen our waterfront views right under your nose.

Redmod finishes off his column

P.S A smaller but significant point in the cash for covenant story. The money actually went to a local developer, part of the local econemy. Every little helps.

How little Redmond knows, George Downing is a tax exile living in Spain and I dont think he neede the money.

Phil Redmond-A Professional Scouser.

Lets ask a question. Where does he live? Childwall? Croxteth, just by where Brookside was filmed…..no. Woolton or even Cressington Park? No one of these.

Tirley Garth, Utkington in the leafy Cheshire Green Belt just one hamlet up from Tarporly is where. They don’t have many scouse weddings in this part of the world. Now you don’t begrudge a man making something of himself but true to form the old saying; When a scouser makes it, they bugger off to London and when they half make it the move to the Wirral has a strange association here.
I last spoke to Dr Redmond shortly after the National Trust AGM that was held at the Oldham Echo Arena. I was helping with a historical tour to some of the delegates after the event. I bumped into Tristram Hunt the respected historian, BBC presenter and Times Journalist. He had not long done an article entitled Liverpool Capital of Vandalism http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3507204.ece for the Times. It was inspired and titled after a phrase I sent him Capital of Destruction, referring at that point to our Georgian past. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-special-features/2008/01/29/living-on-the-eve-of-destruction-64375-20405391/

As I spoke to him opposite Mann Island I noticed the wavy hair of Dr Redmond and his wife with a small group walking towards me. I was showing Tristram the soon to disappear views as the Thee Black Slugs were just being started and explaining that a Dock which predated the Albert by 60 years was destroyed to make way for the museum being built that Phil was the Chairman of NML, at that time and his wife a trustee was a strange co-incidence. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/09/what_scouse_culture_means.html   One disgruntled trustee had just resigned from NML stating the Redmond’s constituted a conflict of interests. NML just ignore conflicts of interests as they ignore legal covenants. "Oh here is one of the people responsible" I said and Phil stopped grinning like a little cheeky scouser. I knew Phil as a client of mine I had sold him some bits for his mansion. “Wayne we have to move on with the times” he said.

This is not moving on these were my cherished views Liverpool Museums should be protecting us not ruining us” http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/loyd-grossman-lectures-us-on-heritage.html

“Well what would you have put there?” he said “A park” I replied “Besides the finance for these three grotesques is paying for the museum its disgraceful” Alexis chipped in “Oh no its not” she said. “I have looked over all the minutes of trustees meetings I am well aware of how the finances are stacked”.
Phil in full glare of Tristram then said pointing to the whole development including the museum that he was steward of as Chairman of NML. “It all should have been built in Birkenhead” I nearly threw him in Salt house Dock. “You have been culture supremo watching all this happen and you have done nothing look at the mess as I pointed to One Park Worst, Widnes Tech on speed, opposite on Chavasse Park. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/09/liverpool-world-heritage-city.html  “They have destroyed our future this is bad. “You are right but the consolation is it will all fall down within 50 years”. There is no consolation to me I wont be around”

Tristram and his wife sensing an engagement said their goodbyes I thought he may have written about it, and I continued rattling with Phil as Alexis and their two architect friends looked on. “We should talk about this in more detail in the new year,” he said and I caught up my party. I never did tie up with him. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2010/02/museum-of-liverpool-are-trustees-out-of.html


I read Phil Redmond’s column in the Liverpool Daily Ghost last week. Its usually waffle and this particular one is not available on line. Perhaps because the editor is aware of its inaccuracies. Entitled, Why the twists in the tales make it great to be scouse. Well said Phil did you e-mail in this column from the Mansion in Cheshire.
He goes on to say how last weeks story broke about the £750,000 paid out by NML to a commercial property developer. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news//2010/02/24/revealed-tax-payer-funded-national-museums-liverpool-paid-out-750k-for-spoiling-a-waterfront-view-100252-25901760/

He says Well, yes but the unfortunate situation is that if you want to build anywhere in a city, especially in a complex historical area like the Pier Head, you will encounter, well, complex and historical problems. This was one of them. He says he will come back to this and I await tomorrows column where he will I think try to kid the public.
He says “It basically boils down to £750,000 brought in £72 million and delivered a museum on time and on budget.”
This, as most of his column is made up, They have destroyed the World Heritage Site and now it transpires there was covenants to protect this happening. We were first told it would be open in 2008, then 2009, then 2010 and now 2011. The original design had a price of £42 million which is now nearer £80 million and it appears all the money is still not in place. Something I am not in the least surprised about with the utter chaos surrounding this whole project.

I await his writing tommorrow, he will probably be doing it now after he has finished off bullying Mark Thomas the editor into kidding the public. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/should-mark-thomas-be-relieved-of-his.html  who lives on the Wirral. There was not a mention into the wasted money in the Daily Ghost. I sent the editor Mark Thomas a AJ piece about they have come to an agreement relating to the 3XN, the museums architects sacking. Next day it was entitled, to placate the NML.Harmony breaks out at Liverpool Museum. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/02/25/harmony-breaks-out-in-liverpool-museums-spat-with-architect-92534-25910055/  This is a disgrace what a placation of the facts which needed a little more investigation. The day before It was great to see the papers holding them accountable. Shock horror the Echo at that. They should be accountable which is why I have written to Mr Redmond for a full account of the financial mess that is NML. Requesting some details that the press have not looked into. A letter has also gone off to the National Audit Office asking for a full inquiry. I await a cover upo by The Daily Ghost.

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/08/is-daily-post-turning-into-morning.html

http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/oldham-echo-mind-control-to-major-tom.html