Major Regeneration Planned for Liverpool’s Cultural Quarter

May 20, 2025
Editor

Liverpool’s cultural quarter is set for a major transformation, as the city council unveils plans to develop a bold new masterplan for the St George’s Gateway area.

Liverpool City Council has appointed a team of placemaking experts, led by LDA Design, to shape a long-term vision for the regeneration of this prominent 35-hectare site. Stretching from Lime Street Station to William Brown Street, the area includes some of Liverpool’s most iconic landmarks—such as St George’s Hall, the Liverpool Empire Theatre, the Walker Art Gallery, and the World Museum—and regularly hosts large-scale civic and cultural events.

Identified as a key opportunity for regeneration, the area’s development potential has been significantly enhanced by the removal of the Churchill Way Flyovers.

LDA Design, a leading UK practice in masterplanning, urban design, and landscape architecture, will lead the multidisciplinary team. Partners include:

Haworth Tompkins, a Stirling Prize-winning architecture firm
PLACED, a Liverpool-based community engagement specialist
Aspinal Verdi, providing viability and deliverability expertise
WSP, Pegasus, and Hatch, offering additional technical and planning support

Commissioned in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and National Museums Liverpool (NML), the team is tasked with creating a visionary yet practical framework for the area’s future development.

The announcement follows the recent launch of the Imagine Liverpool Regeneration Board, a new initiative designed to accelerate development across the city and attract fresh private and Government investment. Some board members have already joined the Liverpool delegation at UKREiiF, the UK’s leading real estate and infrastructure investment forum, to promote key opportunities.

A central aim of the draft masterplan is to improve connectivity—linking the St George’s Gateway to surrounding communities and the wider city centre while enhancing its world-class public realm.

The plan will also align with nearby development frameworks, such as the Pumpfields masterplan, which focuses on delivering a vibrant, residential-led mixed-use neighbourhood in the city’s northern fringe.

Additionally, this initiative supports the ambitions of the recently proposed New Town Taskforce, which targets regeneration across a 5km corridor from north Liverpool through Everton, Anfield, Kirkdale, Bootle, and into Sefton.

Once completed and approved, the St George’s Gateway framework will be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document, guiding future decision-making, supporting delivery, and giving confidence to investors.

The St George’s Gateway framework is underpinned by six guiding principles, based on enhancing the quality of the place and its environment:

Set out detailed public realm and landscape interventions, with a clear strategy for reconnecting this part of the city centre with an emphasis on improved walkability, active travel, legibility and permeability, connecting this area and north Liverpool into the city centre.
Propose deliverable transport improvements and interventions in the context of an emerging city centre mobility strategy (Urban Mobility and Public Spaces Strategy), and a drive towards active travel and net zero.
Promote introduction of green space for enhanced biodiversity, climate mitigation, improved placemaking, creating of micro-climates and capture of surface water run-off.
Identify and propose interventions to unlock and maximise the value of potential development sites and land use strategy.
Set out potential interventions for the creative reuse of derelict or under used buildings.
Set design codes for the area; character areas; and sites including appropriate use and design/place requirements which respond to unique character and context.