Viewpoint: Liverpool's diversity of building types

Jan 23 2008 by Terry McGunigle, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL has an iconic skyline – well-known the world over and celebrated for its mixture of old and new buildings.

As you would expect, such diversity of building types, designs and eras provokes conjecture about how the city needs balance between old and new, why old buildings should be preserved, and the need for modern architecture to keep the city evolving.

Of course, it’s imperative to look forward and integrate contemporary design into the city’s fabric, but so, too, must we ensure that the city’s fine examples of classical architecture are retained.

The property community is a lead player in delivering the renaissance and many developers are also recognising their duty to include the city’s historic buildings in this change, returning them to usable working spaces.

As the founder of the Merseyside Forum for Sculpture, we’ve tasked ourselves with helping to restore and reinstate sculptures and carvings across the region and provide the training and support to keep these specialist skills in supply.

Already, we’ve been working with many developers, landlords and estate trustees to restore some of Merseyside’s finest examples of sculpture – whether it’s commemorative plaques for the Liver Building or carvings for the city’s Catholic churches and now, more pressingly, we are campaigning to replace the lost sculptural frieze with a new design relating to our society of St George’s Hall.

Celebrated as one of Europe’s most perfect examples of neo-classical architecture, St George’s Hall offers a key part of the city’s tourism and yet one of its most striking original features has remained lost for more than half a century.

With a lack of public sector support or financial backing, we are now urging the city’s friends, developers and business community to help raise the £3m needed to reinstate the final piece of sculpture by making a donation through www.finishoff george.co.uk