Liverpool One-They have Stolen Our Streets.

And that's not my words but that apears to be the view of the architect of the recent redevelopment of the Bluecoat.

BDP’s masterplan for Liverpool One may have impressed the architects who drew up the Stirling shortlist, but Hans van der Heijden, architect of the Bluecoat arts centre next door, says its chief aim was to foster a feeling of disconnection with the rest of the city. “Liverpool One does not have a wall. Its wall is invisible, but yet it is clearly marked by the stylistic discontinuity of its architecture,” he tells Anna Minton in her new book Ground Control. Minton’s experience is little better. “I could have been anywhere in Britain or America with a high-end shopping centre… although I had been told the design of the complex faithfully followed the original street pattern, I couldn’t see any street signs.”

So we are made to feel grateful that they have been given a third of the city centre and then they nominate themselves for a Stirling Prize. http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/5209267.article Yes it is nominated by RIBA architects and with 26 different architect working on Grosvenor-pool they have effectivly nominated themselves.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/10/12/favourites-for-the-riba-stirling-prize-92534-24905793/

Yesterdays Daily Ghost (the Oldham Echo now arrives at 7.30 a.m its only a matter of time) had a full two pages by Vicky Anderson whose partner is involved in the architectural profession, maybe he was working on the Bluecoat desecration? But hey! we never heard a bad word about it in the press. Only how good it was from people who dont understand the way the erosion of our cultural identity and its historical architecture can be so comprehensive. So when an Architect who destroyed the Bluecoat with a crass renovation led by English Heretics, leaving it a limp and lifeless space, with a ruined garden, talks about Liverpool One being bad, well we know for sure, we have got a Trafford Park in the city without a roof on. And the backslappers at RIBA want to tell us how great it is......well not for me thanks. They have destroyed the world heritage site with the carbuncle on Chavasse Park that is One Park Worst. They can never be forgiven for dumping that on us. Grosvenor-pool. A city squatting within a city.

They have stolen our streets and given us a new St Johns Market, Yes thats about it.