Commercial \ Cruise Liner Terminal, Liverpool

We were approached by Liverpool Cruise Port to design a new Cruise liner terminal right at the heart of the historic Liverpool waterfront. The enquiry came after the success of our cruise liner terminal in Greenock. The building was to have been situated on a tidal pontoon already constructed and approached by hinged “gangplank” bridges.
Liverpool has a very lively and growing cruise liner industry with many of the cruises originating and/or finishing in the city. Liners can contain up to 5,000 passengers and typically can be 48m high above the waterline. Unlike at Greenock, the terminal sits very close alongside the ship. The three-storey building, the plans of which had already been sketched out consisted of a welcome floor and baggage drop off on the middle floor, a restaurant above and departure floor at quayside level. People flows embarking and disembarking were carefully studied and some amendments proposed to the plans.
The main thrust of our design was to find a way in which the enormity of the boat could be grasped from the interior of the relatively small terminal building. A glass roof was adopted. When this proved too expensive, we reverted to cladding the extant design (designed by the project manager) but the clients then decided to appoint a local architect.