Challenge

Liverpool One, a partnership between Grosvenor Estates and Liverpool City Council, is a 42-acre, mixed-use, retail-led regeneration project in the centre of the City of Liverpool.

Gross Max Landscape Architects won a selected design competition to design the water feature. It featured a series of raised stepped pools in the heart of the award winning landscape.

The water feature was to be steeped in history and design foundation. Open pools reflected the waves of the Mersey and its valuable role in the shipping industry. A lunar pool acted as a reflective feature that symbolises the impact of the moon's cycle on the tides (which in turn affects the shipping in the Mersey), while the cyclical tides are depicted in the fountain nozzle feature. The arrangement on plan picks up river banks and the first dry dock edge.

Solution

Fountains Direct provided 83 dry plaza fountain nozzles and open pools for the project.

  • 83 off Comet 10-14T
  • 12 off variable speed SPA type pump sets
  • 83 off OASE modified BEST LED lights (cold white)

A particular feature of this display is the pool construction, which uses a new lightweight system developed specifically for this project.

Fountains Direct provided full design co-ordination from Stage D through to construction and preparation of O&M manuals and maintenance period.

Consulting engineers Bridges Pound were responsible for plant room structural design, supporting metalwork detailing for internal balustrades, lifting equipment and stepped access routes.

Applied Landscape provided design co-ordination, being responsible for hard works detailing, levels and falls, site specific paving materials around nozzles / LED fittings, co-ordination of nozzle trough, upstand pool edge detailing and co-ordination of timber materials / surrounding plant material.

Outcome

The finished installation forms part of a high profile public realm project – the largest open air shopping centre in the UK. The outcome is a water feature that gives the public the perception that they are in a watery environment and directly references tidal conditions.

The nozzle fountains display a sine wave pattern that emulates the ebb and flow of the tides, and the open pools take on a rippled effect that simulates the water of the nearby docks. The lunar pool remains still, reflecting the surrounding urban environment during the day and the sky at night.