Risk List

National Wildflower Centre, Merseyside

Status: At risk

Hodder + Partners, 2000
Risk: Demolition

Long before Saudi Arabia dreamt up ‘The Line’, an attention-grabbing linear building in the desert, architects Stephen Hodder and Maurice Shapero had tried the unusual concept in suburban Merseyside, with the charismatic but controversial National Wildflower Centre (2000) at Court Hey Park.
In an imaginative interpretation of the competition brief for a visitor centre, they took a site plan with an indicative red line marking a range of possible locations, and instead made that the entire building. The 520ft long, 13ft wide ‘inhabited wall’ was a visually arresting concrete threshold, reconciling the two disparate halves of the park and shadowing an existing walled garden. It included an elevated walkway for promenading views over the park, a sculptural staircase that aligned with mature trees, plus a café, educational and workshop spaces concealed by adjustable oak shutters.
The £1.35 million project was initially a hit with critics and visitors, but the limited resources of Landlife – the charity and seed sales business that ran the centre – were quickly over-stretched. Managing leaks, drainage, and operational issues took their toll, and apportioning blame ultimately ended in legal proceedings.
In 2017 Landlife went into liquidation and the centre abruptly closed. Despite hopes from the council that the building could find a new use as a care centre, a community hub, or a base for an environmental organisation, these plans were frustrated by the empty building becoming a repeated target for vandalism and arson.
A 2023 report by Knowsley Council indicated that they intend to ‘remove’ the millennium building due to safety and cost implications. While a full-scale rehabilitation or reuse of the building now seems unlikely, it could surely be retained as a pared-back sculptural folly: a Peterlee-esque Apollo Pavilion in the park, or a memorial to Millennial misadventure

How to help

Write to Knowsley MP, Anneliese Midgley, to voice your support for the building: anneliese.midgley.mp@parliament.uk

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