CBI tells Unesco to avoid ‘knee jerk’ reaction
THE CBI is urging Unesco to resist a ‘knee jerk’ reaction to Liverpool Waters’ following news that the heritage organisation is threatening to withdraw the city’s World Heritage site status.
CBI North West director Damian Waters said any removal of Liverpool’s coveted World Heritage status would be a body blow to the city. He said Unesco directors should come to Liverpool and examine the case with their own eyes.
He said: “I do not know what has prompted this sudden hostility from Unesco but it is rather ill-informed and most unfortunate.”
“Out of the World Heritage sites in the UK, Liverpool is one of the most important because it marks Britain’s business and commercial heritage. This site is not a monument…it is at the thumping, beating heart of Liverpool’s commercial district. And in that sense it is fundamentally different to tourist sites such as the Stonehenge or Durham Cathedral.
“Its prime purpose today remains commercial and it does need to move with the times.”
He added that Unesco needs to recognise that Liverpool is “immensely fortunate” to have a firm such as Peel willing to invest its expertise in delivering such a significant project.
“If successful these plans could transform a mainly derelict part of Liverpool creating jobs, wealth and a dramatic new skyline in keeping with the progress of the rest of the world.”
Neil Sturmey, managing partner of Grant Thornton’s Liverpool office, said that his practice had resisted the opportunity to move from the recently-redeveloped Liver Building – one of the Three Graces that forms part of the World Heritage site – as it valued “the prestige and sense of place” that came with being based in the building.
“We understand the need to protect what is a beautiful and distinctive waterfront and to avoid losing touch with or obscuring Liverpool’s architectural heritage.
“That said, my experience of visiting cities like Shanghai is that you can successfully blend the old with the new. Liverpool needs to move with the times.
“Today, that means supporting the broad vision of an organisation like Peel, which is inextricably linked with the region’s future.
“UNESCO and the heritage lobby have some valid points to make but business can’t wait forever.”
