A key stage has been reached in the revival of the former Festival Gardens site. The 22-acre waterfront site lies three miles south of the city centre and had been disused for 25 years. The Liverpool Express reports that the site is now ready to be transformed into a new residential neighbourhood for the city.
The site hosted the UK’s first ever garden festival in 1984, and attracted 3.4 million visitors. It celebrated different styles of ornamental garden from around the world, and the grand Festival Hall stood in the centre. The International Garden Festival celebrations were opened by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
A large part of the Liverpool site was redeveloped into housing after the festival, but some of it has remained derelict since 1997. Now major excavation works have taken place to remove over 380,000m2 of soil and waste from the site, in preparation for new residential developments.
Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Economy, Councillor Nick Small, said: “This is a major step forward in transforming this iconic location and bringing to life our vision of creating a brand new community, with a range of housing types and tenures, ancillary facilities and a high-quality, desirable public realm area.”
He added: “The work undertaken to date to reach this milestone should not be underestimated, but our focus has been on getting everything right as we need to future-proof this land and make sure it’s fit for purpose for generations to come.”
“We look forward to moving on to the next phase and taking a step closer to this game-changing development.”
Some regeneration of the gardens took place in 2010, with new lakes, waterways, woodland trails, and two restored pagodas.
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