Works to excavate 22-acres of the Liverpool's Festival Gardens site are nearing completion after two years.

The derelict land had not been touched in 25 years before remediation work began on the area. More than 380,000 cubic metres of soil and waste has been removed as part of the project, with 95% of the material being recycled.

Liverpool City Council is now seeking to appoint multidisciplinary consultant team to assist the Council in preparing a development brief for the residential-led redevelopment of Festival Gardens.

The appointed partner will work with the council to create a development brief which will then be advertised on the market for various contractors to bid for.


The Liverpool Festival Gardens site is situated three miles south of the city centre. It is split into three different zones. A 28 acre development zone, 25 acres of oriental gardens and the southern grasslands – 37 acres of former Festival Gardens land that has self-seeded.

The Development Zone, part of which was a former landfill site, once formed part of the International Garden Festival celebrations launched by Queen Elizabeth II in 1984.

Commenting on the project, Liverpool’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Economy, Councillor Nick Small, said: "This is a major step forward in transforming this iconic location and bringing to life our vision of creating a brand new community, with a range of housing types and tenures, ancillary facilities and a high-quality, desirable public realm area.

"The work undertaken to date to reach this milestone should not be underestimated, but our focus has been on getting everything right as we need to future-proof this land and make sure it's fit for purpose for generations to come.

"We look forward to moving on to the next phase and taking a step closer to this game-changing development."