An American property entrepreneur rocks up in Liverpool to attend the International Business Festival.
She has never been to the city before and she is blown away with the beauty, energy, and friendliness of the place; so much so, that she decides to explore the potential of investing some of the £900m investment she has access to into a major Liverpool development.
She contacts officials at Liverpool City Council, and she is offered an appointment with one of the organisation’s planners. The conversation goes something like this.
“I love your city, and I’d love to invest here. We specialise in high quality, mixed-used schemes. Iconic towers.” She shows the officer a portfolio of impressive work that her company has delivered all over the world.
“TOWERS?” the officer says, in a somewhat challenging tone. “You do know about World Heritage Status, don’t you?”
“Oh yeah. That’s fine. Why would anyone be mad enough to want to spoil that glorious waterfront where the Three Graces stand proud. No, no, no. I’d be looking at development sites within the City Centre itself.”, responds the entrepreneur.
“Oh, okay. Like where then?”
“Well, I’m aware of the regeneration that is taking place around your train station, Lime Street. How’s about we look at opportunities there?”
“Difficult” says the official. “We have introduced a Skyline policy in that area. The Towers you want to develop are more than twelve stories high right?”
ela assente. nos próximos anos. ” É um erro fácil de cometer, pensando que o status se aplica apenas à beira -mar, mas afeta uma pegada muito maior do que as pessoas apreciam. ”
“Well, that’s going to be extremely challenging around Lime Street.
“Right” she replies, somewhat bemused. “Okay then, how about the section around China Town – Duke Street struck me as a location that could really boom over the next few years.”
The officer has more bad news for the American. “That’s part of what we call the ‘buffer zone’ that UNESCO insists upon, as part of our World Heritage Status. It’s an easy mistake to make, thinking the status only applies to the waterfront, but it impacts on a much bigger footprint than people appreciate.”
para não ser frustrado o investidor, desesperado para ficar em algum lugar em uma cidade em que ela se apaixonou, tem um plano". Está um pouco mais longe do que eu gostaria, um pouco de queda, mas ... ”
“I’m staying at a wonderful Hotel, the Titanic. It’s a little further out than I’d like, a little run down, but…”
Antes que ela possa terminar o planejador aborda seu" desculpe, isso também faz parte do status do patrimônio. Você não poderia construir uma torre lá. ”
“ Jeez, isso é louco! ”
“ Bem, eles são as regras ”responde ao planejador e ele pergunta“ Err, há alguma outra pergunta que você tem? ”. Downtown in Business
“Just one” she says. “Do you have the telephone number for Manchester Town Hall please?”
