Heritage pride on display

12/8/2011

A badge of pride is being offered to businesses to show their support for Liverpool's World Heritage status.

A new initiative is being launched in the city which encourages business to adopt specific World Heritage Site branding which will let everyone know they're located in a World Heritage city.

Each of the six historic areas, which form Liverpool's World Heritage Site, will have new, specially designed signs put up letting residents and visitors know that the Pier Head, Albert Dock, Stanley Dock, Castle Street, William Brown Street and Lower Duke Street areas are historically significant.

Businesses in these locations are being asked to support the new initiative by visiting a specially designed online branding toolkit which gives them access to the new branding which can be used in all their marketing materials and communications with customers. 

The badges of pride consist of emblems using the expression "Proud to be part of Liverpool World Heritage City".  There are also individual letters which are a contemporary version of medieval capitals, which include within them historic and modern structures.

For example, the Pier Head's new signage is a letter 'P' which is illustrated with images of the Liver Building and the Museum of Liverpool.  Venues in the Albert Dock will have a giant 'A' and features pictures of a vessel and the immediately recognisable Dock buildings, while William Brown Street's giant 'W' has representations of St. George's Hall, Wellington's Column and Lime Street Station within it.

There are also plans in place to produce a window sticker in forthcoming months which all businesses can display with pride in their windows.

Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for culture and tourism, Councillor Wendy Simon, said: "There has been a great deal of speculation relating to Liverpool's future as a World Heritage City, but this launch reaffirms our commitment to our title. 

"This branding has been a long time in the making and I'm delighted we've developed such striking illustrations which will help us spread the word far and wide that we are proud to be home to a World Heritage Site and want to do as much as we can to promote these areas to residents and visitors.

"We're encouraging business across the city to wear the badge of pride and showcase how important our cultural heritage is."

Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for regeneration, Councillor Malcolm Kennedy said: "It's a very careful balance to conserve our historical roots and at the same time encourage the city to grow and expand.  However, we believe it's possible to strike that balance between conservation and regeneration, retaining the value of the World Heritage Site and at the same time meeting the needs of a thriving, modern city.

"This initiative is all about creating modern heritage and highlighting the importance and relevance of these areas to residents, visitors and businesses.  Many people just believe the World Heritage status applies to the Pier Head, so it's important to educate as many people as possible and promote all our wonderful historical gems."

Already six organisations have come on board to support the new branding scheme - National Museums Liverpool, Liverpool ONE, Merseytravel, Bibby Line Group, Liverpool Vision and The Albert Dock Tenants Association.

David Fleming, Director of National Museums Liverpool, said: "This new branding is really welcome. It will help people to recognise the global significance of Liverpool through the city's extraordinary history and culture.

"We are very conscious at National Museums Liverpool of being part of the cultural fabric of this city, part of Team Liverpool. Many of our museums are within the World Heritage Site, and our newest, the Museum of Liverpool, stands proudly on the waterfront alongside our beautiful neighbours the Three Graces and the Albert Dock."

And it's not just businesses within the designated zones who are being asked to show their pride for being located in such an historically important area.  Surrounding locations, known as 'The Buffer Zone', are also being asked to wear the badge of pride, including China Town, Parliament Street, Rodney Street, the two cathedrals and the immediate areas surrounding them.

Each of these organisations are being encouraged to display an 'L' in their window, representing the overarching 'Liverpool' brand, and has images including a Liver Bird, the River Mersey, the Dock Wall and art installation Penelope. 

Any organisations wishing to find out if they're in the Buffer Zone can go to to the interactive map.