London Eye designer hired for ‘Wirral Beacon’

THE designers of the London Eye has been hired to work up plans for a viewing tower at the Wirral Waters site.

Marks Barfield has drawn up initial designs for the “Wirral Beacon” which will be an attraction to lure more visitors across the water from Liverpool.

The £8m structure would be located at the East Float of Wirral Waters, the £4.5bn regeneration of Birkenhead Docks.

Richard Mawdsley, project director at the site’s landowner Peel Group, said: “We wanted to create something visible from the Pierhead. When people stand on the Liverpool side they don’t think there’s any reason to come here.”

Early drawings show a 100m tower with a ramped walkway wrapped around a central column, in the style of a helter skelter.

“People would basically walk up there and it’d have views of Liverpool, the Welsh hills, even the Blackpool Tower,” said Mr Mawdsley.

“We’re working on it. There are no guarantees it will happen but we think it’s a good idea.”

Peel is also planning to reinstate old industrial railway lines around the edge of the dock for a streetcar light railway service.