Location: Liverpool, UK.
Client: Canal & Rivers Trust, Liverpool Vision.
Scale: 50ha (37ha on water).
Constraints: UNESCO World Heritage Site, UK's largest collection of Grade II Listed Buildings, 25 different stakeholder interests.
Scope of Works: UK's first adopted waterspace plan, strategic masterplan and planning guidance.
BACA architects were commissioned by British Waterways to create the UK’s first waterspace planning framework for the historic Liverpool Docks, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The practice’s research-led approach shaped the Waterspace Strategy, a vision to revive and reimagine the city’s 250-year-old South Docks through sustainable waterfront development.
Working with over twenty key stakeholders, BACA developed an integrated masterplan that celebrates Liverpool’s maritime heritage while unlocking new opportunities for people to live, work and play on the water.
Covering more than 50 hectares, including 37 hectares of open water, the Liverpool South Docks plan created three distinct zones: a cultural waterfront for events and festivals, a mixed-use zone with a floating water park and floating homes, and a leisure and aquatic zone featuring a new marina and pedestrian bridge.
The strategy was designed as a masterplan on water, exploring how floating architecture, public spaces and water-based infrastructure can coexist with heritage buildings to create a living, resilient waterfront.
BACA’s Waterspace Strategy for Liverpool received the national Water Renaissance Award for Masterplanning and Strategy, recognising its innovation and lasting impact. The plan sets a blueprint for waterfront regeneration, breathing new life into the docks while creating long-term investment opportunities. Through careful planning of water plots, floating and fixed structures, and climate-adaptive design, the project offers a model for future sustainable waterfronts around the world.
By reconnecting Liverpool’s people with their waterways, the proposal positions the Liverpool Docks once again as one of the city’s greatest assets and a symbol of innovation in UK architecture.
