Government Design Watchdog Slams ‘Destination Kirkby’

A government design review has condemned the ‘Destination Kirkby’ masterplan

as being lacking in both “strength of vision” and “quality urban design” and having
insufficient “flexibility or credibility as the basis for a distinctive new town centre in
Kirkby.”

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has also
raised concerns about the quality of the proposed stadium in Kirkby. The CABE
review said: “The decision made by Everton Football Club to locate their new
stadium in Kirkby has the potential to give instant transforming character to the
town. With a capacity of 55,000 seats, this will be one of the largest stadiums in
Europe. It is our view that this megastructure, located in the centre of the town,
must be of first class design quality as well as bringing economic benefit. We
also think that both Everton and Kirkby deserve a stadium of first class design
quality, and we are not convinced that this has been realised by the current
proposals.

We are concerned that the stadium design is being delivered by a Design and
Build contractor. It is our view that Design and Build contracts can produce
successful outcomes only when high quality design is embedded in the process;
we do not feel that this has been achieved in this case.”

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for
Communities and Local Government, CABE’s, design review panel that consists
of around 40 expert advisors drawn from England's architectural, and built
environment community also warned of the planned stadiums lack of “clear
understanding of the space required for managing large crowds converging on
the stadium,” that the “sense of arrival one would expect to have upon
approaching a stadium of this size and significance, has not been achieved” and
that “the pedestrian approaches to the stadium lack coherence” meaning
supporters would be “meandering from the railway station or drifting across car
parks.”

The design review panel report concludes “that this scheme is, at best, a lost
opportunity. The scheme proposed will have a detrimental impact on the town
and is not of a standard that Kirkby deserves” and advises that: “This scheme
does not meet the criteria in terms of design quality set out in PPS1 and we do
not think that it should receive planning permission.”

Read the full report:

Commission for Architecture
and the Built Environment
(CABE)

Design review
Kirkby Masterplan
Masterplan for town centre regeneration, including the provision of
stadium for Everton football club and Tesco supermarket.

Review date: 13 March 2008

Lead designer: Broadway Malyan
Client: Tesco, Everton Football Club
Local authority: Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Location: Kirkby Town Centre
Region: North West
Categories: Commercial, Culture and leisure, Neighbourhoods and and
Regeneration

Summary

We applaud the efforts of the local authority to bring forward significant

redevelopment of Kirkby town centre in partnership with Everton Football Club
and Tesco. We support the principle of development that goes beyond the
intensity envisaged by the Local Plan. The relocation of a premiership stadium
here creates a unique opportunity to bring forward retail development, and
especially food retail for the benefit of the Kirkby and the surrounding area.
However, we think that the masterplan proposed fails to translate this opportunity
into a positive vision of transformation. We also think that both Everton and
Kirkby deserve a stadium of first class design quality, and we are not convinced
that this has been realised by the current proposals, however, our fundamental
concerns for the masterplan are paramount and need to be addressed first.
Masterplan

It is clear that the local authority, Everton and Tesco share a strong vision for the
economic regeneration of Kirkby based on the mutually beneficial programme of
a premiership stadium and retail development. We are concerned that a similar
strength of vision in terms of place making based on high quality urban design is
lacking in the current scheme.

The new retail development to the south is characterised by large retail units and
extensive surface parking of a type more commonly associated with out of town
retail parks. We do not think that this model has sufficient flexibility or credibility
as the basis for a distinctive new town centre in Kirkby; it provides little prospect
of transformation relying on a model that attracts visitors on match days and to
shop rather than providing a means by which Kirby will attract new residents to
increase the population and provide much needed critical mass to support a
mixed and thriving town centre. As an alternative approach, we think a richer mix
of uses, arranged along streets and spaces, in each area of the site, could be
more successful. For example, the stadium is bordered by surface and multi-
storey car parking, green space alongside a major road, and what appear to be
the backs of retail units, while additional residential accommodation is proposed
only for the fringe of the masterplan. We feel that by arranging more retail or
residential accommodation around the stadium could help bring life to this part of
the town on the majority of days in the year when no match is taking place.

A successful town centre masterplan should be based on a clear idea about the
character and function of the place that will be created. It should set up a
framework for developing a hierarchy, not only, of streets and spaces but also a
hierarchy within a mixture of uses. The masterplan vision should also provide a
sound basis to implement incremental development and change over time. For
example, the masterplan could establish an approach to landscape design to
draw the green spaces around the edge of the site into the town centre and
several multi-storey car parks located with care could avoid the need for large
surface car parks. It would also be helpful for the masterplan to be illustrated in
detail in the wider context of the Borough and the city region. We believe that the
involvement of an experienced masterplanner, to lead the design team, would
help to develop a masterplan capable of delivering the local authority’s
aspirations for change and providing the quality of place that the people of Kirkby
deserve.
Stadium

The decision made by Everton Football Club to locate their new stadium in Kirkby
has the potential to give instant transforming character to the town. With a
capacity of 55,000 seats, this will be one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is
our view that this megastructure, located in the centre of the town, must be of
first class design quality as well as bringing economic benefit. We feel that a full
urban design analysis of the surrounding landscape with long range views, and
large scale sections is necessary to properly asses the impact of the stadium not
only on its immediate adjacencies of the town and the college but also its impact
on neighbouring towns.

We are concerned that the stadium design is being delivered by a Design and
Build contractor. It is our view that Design and Build contracts can produce
successful outcomes only when high quality design is embedded in the process;
we do not feel that this has been achieved in this case.

We are not convinced by this masterplan that there is a clear understanding of

the space required for managing large crowds converging on the stadium. Also,
we do not feel that an inspiring sense of arrival, as one would expect to have
upon approaching a stadium of this size and significance, has been achieved.
This stadium will be a prominent figure in the landscape in all directions,
however, the pedestrian approaches to the stadium lack coherence, meandering
from the railway station or drifting across car parks. On match days, the
continued to operation of all uses appears likely to be controlled by crude
boundary treatments.

As a comment on the brief for the stadium at Kirkby, we would welcome further
information about the use of this facility on non match days. There is a risk that
when not in use for matches, the stadium will be inactive, with a detrimental
impact on the public realm around it. We think that, to be a genuine catalyst for
regeneration of the town centre, the stadium should be designed to
accommodate a variety of uses. These could include links with local schools, use
as a music venue, conference facilities or for other sporting activities.

Food Store

Whilst the food store is not as large as the stadium, it will still be a large building
in this context, the three dimensional studies suggest for the stadium should also
carried out here. We are particularly concerned that the service area for Tesco
will loom over the proposed residential area. With the scale of development
proposed we are not convinced that the suggested bunding and planting will be
an adequate buffer between these uses.

The investment by a major food retailer is to be welcomed not just as a

significant benefit to the local population, but in this case due to the expertise this
retailer brings. Tesco has demonstrated elsewhere how large food retail sheds
can be successfully integrated into town centre schemes, for example by
developing housing and other facilities on decks above with car-parking
underground and often with complementary uses. We think that it is unfortunate
that the best practice learnt elsewhere by this retailer is not more evident in this
proposal.

Energy efficiency and environmental design

The scale of this development and the mix of uses proposed, suggest that it
should set high standards in terms of energy efficiency and environmental
design. We hope that during the next phase of design work, every effort will be
made to exploit the possibilities of exporting heat from the retail units elsewhere
within or outside the development. We understand that the use of Combined
Heat and Power is to be investigated, and we would support this as a measure
with considerable scope to minimise carbon emissions. The comprehensive
redevelopment proposed for large areas of the site creates an opportunity to put
in place such infrastructure, which is far more difficult to retrofit. It will be
important as the scheme moves forward towards a detailed planning application
that benchmarks for sustainability are set through the planning process.

Whilst we welcome the development of the proposed uses on this site we feel
that this scheme is, at best, a lost opportunity. The scheme proposed will have a
detrimental impact on the town and is not of a standard that Kirkby deserves.
This scheme does not meet the criteria in terms of design quality set out in PPS1
and we do not think that it should receive planning permission.