Comment: New Observatory design backed by local people

Mar 17 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

PART of the attraction of the Sefton coastline is its rugged, unspoilt nature. Any development should complement that rather than compromise it.

Fortunately, this has been the case both with Antony Gormley’s Iron Men statues, and now with the winning design for a new £11.6m Observatory at Crosby, which will look down on the statues and across the Mersey.

The designers, Duggan Morris Architects, beat off strong competition from around the world with a proposal for two distinct structures, one of which will dominate the Crosby skyline.

It means the Seaforth radar tower near to the beach will now be demolished to make way for a series of rotating ellipses towering 30 metres to an observation deck.

When viewed from the ground, the observation deck will glow like a table lamp at night – its walls made out of a special material which glows without the need for artificial light.

In its shadow, a smaller visitor centre will be built with open-air amphitheatre, exhibition space and caferestaurant with views of Antony Gormley’s Another Place installation.

Crucially, for a major step such as this, the winning design has won the backing of the Crosby public, with Ian Hamilton Fazey, panel judge and chair of Waterloo Residents Association, saying he hoped it would bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to the borough.

It will also mean that more and more people will be able to interact with this unique coastline, giving them an opportunity to see the Iron Men statues in a new light, as well as affording dramatic views across the river from the 30-metre high viewing platform.

Taken together, these two schemes will enhance the experience of visiting Sefton’s coastline for many visitors, while still preserving its essentially unspoilt character.

And it should not be forgotten that it is Another Place – so recently under threat of removal but saved thanks to a Daily Post campaign – which has made it possible.