1. LIVERPOOL ONE: Regeneration As part of its 21st-century renaissance, the city of Liverpool
NEW HEART UK. To achieve this, Grosvenor Group would redevelop a derelict
42-acre site between the city centre and the docks. Alongside
shops, there would be a cinema, housing and public spaces.
With a budget of £920 million, the whole thing would be Europe’s
biggest single regeneration project. The ambition was big, but
shoppers, to this unpromising location? To answer this question,
Grosvenor commissioned Wolff Olins to create a brand.
No rules We wanted to root the project in the city of Liverpool, so that
local people didn’t see it as an alien imposition from outside,
and we based the brand idea on Liverpool’s traditional attitude:
unconventional, free-spirited, anarchic even. The brand idea is
therefore ‘No rules’. The brand aims, in the services it offers and
the way it talks, to ignore the conventions, and create something
new. We named the place Liverpool ONE, pointing both to its
postcode, and to its ambition to make Liverpool the number
one shopping choice in the north west.
98.5% occupied The brand was launched in 2005, when construction was under
way. It helped the developers to sign up retailers, and to give the
project a real sense of place. When it opened in 2008, Liverpool
ONE was an immediate success, and the heart of Liverpool
shifted from the old centre to the new development. By June 2009,
Liverpool ONE was attracting 500,000 visitors a week, and the
Wolff Olins shop units were 98.5% occupied – in a time of recession,
an amazing achievement.
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