The structure which caused the road to close has been declared safe
The road reopened to traffic this afternoon(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A key Liverpool road has reopened after being closed for four months. Cars and buses had been unable to access Old Hall Street from the junction of Leeds Street and The Strand after it was closed to traffic on June 30.
Emergency services were called to the area after receiving a report from Berkeley Shaw. The firm are the estate managers for the Beetham Tower estate, acting on behalf of the estate owner. The call concerned a sculpture called Connections – Face of Liverpool.
The abstract monument by Stephen Broadbent is located on its premises but was reported to be leaning at a “concerning angle”. A spokesperson for Merseyside Police confirmed to the ECHO that officers were at the scene that day to help manage traffic. They said they had received a call from the fire service about the “unsafe structure”.
The diversion caused a bit of a headache for commuters. Old Hall Street allows people driving from Leeds Street and The Strand to quickly access the city’s business district.
This area includes the offices of the Liverpool ECHO and law firm Hill Dickinson, the sponsors of Everton’s new stadium, in St Paul’s Square, as well as the passport office at 101 Old Hall Street.
The issue is further complicated by the maze of one-way systems and road designs that surround Old Hall Street. The road goes down to a single lane when you go past the Cotton Exchange. You can’t get onto the road from Bixteth Street either as it leads on to St Paul’s Square, which is pedestrianised.
Drivers could only access Old Hall Street by going via Chapel Street, then on to Rumford Place and Union Street. The 54A and the 136 buses have also had to change their route.
The ECHO has been told that work to stabilise the structure began on Wednesday, October 8 and this was due to be completed by this Sunday (October 26).
The road reopened this afternoon. Drivers are able to access Old Hall Street as was the case before the closure.
The only difference is that the structure is currently fenced off but metal support beams have now been attached to it.
Metal support beams have been attached to the structure(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Commenting on the reopening of Old Hall Street, a spokesperson for Berkeley Shaw said: “The structure has been assessed by Liverpool City Council and declared safe and so we have been able to secure the immediate reopening of Old Hall Street for traffic.”
The closure has meant many passers-by have properly inspected the structure for the first time. It was commissioned by Beetham Organisation and was completed in 2006 at the same time as the tower.
According to Broadbent Studio’s website, the aim was to “create an integrated art and architecture solution, on a site at the threshold of historic, national and international trade connections”.
Broadbent worked on the project along with artists and designers from BCA and Smiling Wolf to mark the structure’s unique position in the city between the waterfront and the business district. It also aimed to showcase Liverpool’s history of trade and migration.
The structure gets its name due to a series of glass portholes on the floor of the garden, which contain 32 faces of people who have made Liverpool their adopted home.
A quote on the side of the wall facing the main road says: “Liverpool – threshold to the ends of the earth.”
This was said by writer Michael O’Mahoney in 1931 and fits with the theme of Liverpool as a global melting pot.