Wednesday 27 June 2012

Liverpool - World Heritage Site in danger

Yesterday UNESCO put Liverpool Maritime Mercantile World Heritage Site on the "in danger" list.  I have been reading the debate on various blogs and am pleased to see that it is not being reported any more as either "jobs" or "heritage", black or white. My uncle, who lives on the south side of the Mersey, is now fully engaged with the debate. Some good may come of this yet........

Thursday 21 June 2012

Tea and Tobacco in Liverpool

Liverpool - the City was unusual in having dual-purpose offices and warehouses. Once the main offices of Tetley and Company Tea Merchants, it also served as the offices of a tobacco importer and later a sugar refining company.
This week planning permission was granted for the change of use of a grade II listed former tea and tobacco office & warehouse within the heart of Liverpool's World Heritage Site to a boutique hotel. I was really pleased to be working with a new architect (new to me that is) for this project and produced a Heritage Impact Assessment for the architect along with a detailed Supporting Statement. Can't wait for the opening. One of the benefits of this change of use will be that more people will be able to see the amazing interior decorative plasterwork, with its scenes of tobacco harvesting, tea importing and orange harvesting.