Entries in New Brighton pier design competition are unveiled

Oct 8 2008 by Carrie Catterall, Wallasey News

A MAJOR competition for university students to design a new pier for New Brighton is well under way.

Royal Haskoning, an international firm of consultants, environmental scientists and engineers who have opened an office on Merseyside, launched the competition in May.

They asked Liverpool John Moores and University of Liverpool students to design a 21st century pier to replace the much-loved Victorian pier demolished some years ago or an imaginative scheme in some way celebrating New Brighton’s unique location as a resort on the River Mersey.

One of the designs submitted shows a Millennium Dome as the centrepiece of a new ferry terminal,Šgiving the UK its first traditional pier of the 21st century.

Other proposals include innovative pier ideas and water features.

The plans have now gone on display at Liverpool’s Renew Rooms in Wood Street and will be judged by a team of eminent professionals. The winner of the contest will receive £1,000.

Liverpool-based infrastructure and buildings director, David Ricketts, said: “It is quite clear from the standard of the entries that our architects and planners of tomorrow have imagination and enthusiasm as well as flair.

“They really do demonstrate the once thriving seaside resort has a great future ahead of it.

“As a design competition, none of the entries is intended to be constructed, but the ideas put forward could well provide ideas and inspiration when the prospect of a new pier or water feature is considered later this year.”

The final judging will take place on October 15 and entries will be on display until October 17.