Thursday 11 April 2013

Toronto Project Inspires Liverpool . . .

I love urban regeneration schemes and today's Liverpool Post reported on big plans for a new "Brewery Village" to be developed in an area surrounding the historic Cains Brewery (pictured below).  The brewery would focus on becoming a craft brewery and the building renovated.  Proposals include adding a hotel, a deli food hall, a sky bar, possibly an art cinema and independent shops and apartments,as well as making the surrounding streets more people friendly.  You can read about the plans here


What I love most about the design is that it's modeled in part on Toronto's very successful Distillery District where the buildings are actually twenty years older than those in Liverpool  (and how often can you say that??)

I remember the Distillery District before the Soulpepper Theatre Company moved in and jump started a lovely transformation.  It's one of the Toronto places I miss and I'm thrilled that something similar might soon be coming to Liverpool.  I've walked around the area near Cains Brewery; it contains a lot of warehouses and is slightly deserted and sinister, especially at night. But it's on the edge of a creative area known as the Baltic Triangle (there's a gorgeous Swedish church nearby) where lots of small creative companies have taken root.  It's within a ten minute walk of the Albert Docks and the main shopping area, and I can see it being a huge tourist attraction for the city, just as the Distillery District is for Toronto.  

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