Liverpool Arena & Convention Centre, adj Albert Dock
2008
Wilkinson Eyre Architects

Image 21 Jan 2008:

image Ian Lawson

Kings Waterfront Liverpool - Jan 2008

Background
Kings Waterfront is a vital component in Liverpool’s regeneration, and will see the transformation of an unattractive brownfield site into a vibrant urban quarter. The first phase of this development is the £146 million Liverpool Arena and Convention Centre.

Co-ordinated by the city centre Urban Regeneration Company, Liverpool Vision, and funded by English Partnerships, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Liverpool City Council, the Merseyside Objective One Programme, Kings Waterfront covers over 14 hectares to the south of the city’s Albert Dock.


Photo Tim Soar

Liverpool Arena and Convention centre
The scheme, the centrepiece of the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008, comprises: an arena with 9,500 seat capacity; a convention centre with a 1,350 seat auditorium; and a 7,000sqm exhibition space. A public piazza, capable of accommodating large outdoor events, two hotels, extensive public realm and 1,600 space multi-storey car park complete the scheme, which is set within a mixed use community of residential, office, neighbourhood retail, public and open space uses.

Wilkinson Eyre Architects’ design incorporates the development’s varied functions as a single complex of two unified forms, creating a contemporary landmark on Liverpool’s historic waterfront. The two forms, one housing the arena and the other the conference and exhibition centre, are joined by a central, glazed ‘galleria’, forming a common circulation space. From Birkenhead, the composition of these two sculpted forms, pivoted about the central galleria, resembles a pair of graceful outstretched arms or ‘wings’, spanning Liverpool’s famous Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals.


Photo Tim Soar

The development incorporates a series of exciting new public spaces, rich in activity, providing improved access to the waterfront and strengthening connectivity to other nearby attractions.

The arena and convention centre are designed to minimise energy consumption and reduce carbon emissions through heat recovery systems, natural ventilation and heat pumps. The building is designed to achieve a 'Very Good' BREEAM rating. In operation, it will run on renewable ‘green’ energy, some of it generated on-site by five wind turbines, and operate recycled rainwater and waste recycling initiatives.

Arena building under construction:


site photos © adrian welch oct 2007

Kings Waterfront – Wilkinson Eyre Architects



Kings Waterfront - Project Team:
Client: Liverpool City Council
Architects: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
Structural Engineers: Buro Happold
Services Engineers: Faber Maunsell
QS: Gleeds
Lighting Consultants: Speirs & Major
Acoustics Consultants: Sandy Brown Associates
Landscape Architects: Gustafson Porter
Arena Consultants: Sport Concepts
Conference Centre: Theatre Project Consultants

Kings Waterfront Liverpool info from Wilkinson Eyre Architects 140108



Liverpool Arena context : Albert Docks

King's Waterfront Civic Facilities, Kings Dock Arena, central Liverpool
experiencing funding problems late 2006

Context for Liverpool Arena - recent building:


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Kings Dock Landscaping
2008
Gustafson Porter

Other examples of Liverpool Architecture welcome: info@e-architect.co.uk

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral



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Kings Waterfront Liverpool - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt