Merseyside Civic Society (MCS) is spearheading a campaign to fully restore Liverpool’s famous and much loved Piazza ‘bucket’ fountain thus safeguarding it for future generations.
Donating to the Restoration
Please donate at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bucketfountain
We need your support and will require ‘match funding’ for our National Lottery Heritage Bid so please consider supporting this worthwhile cause by making a donation.
Any funds received are kept in a restricted Fund held by Merseyside Civic Society for the sole purpose of restoring the Piazza Fountain. We are currently fundraising for a temporary repaint of the fountain so that we can get it up and running again for Spring 2025 when the cladding work on Beetham Plaza is complete. If you would like your donation to go to this more immediate work please indicate this when you donate.
A video about the Fountain
See The Modernist Society’s short video about the fountain at Watch this video.
It was Merseyside Civic Society that commissioned Welsh sculptor and designer Richard Huws to design a kinetic water fountain for central Liverpool in 1962.
The fountain was completed in May 1967 but in recent years it has fallen into disrepair and now urgently requires restoration. The video shows its deteriorating state in 2020.
The Restoration Proposals
A scrollable set of 20 slides available HERE describes and illustrates the restoration proposals.
A detailed report on the different restoration options was produced and a public survey confirmed that there was overwhelming support for fully restoring and upgrading the fountain, restoring the original water depth, and returning the fountain to its original black or slate grey finish. After the title, the slides commence with the results of the public survey and then illustrate each of the considered restoration options.
Progress to Date
Threatened with removal, the fountain was listed Grade II by Government in August 2019, following a recommendation by Historic England, thanks to the efforts of some of Richard Huw’s former students and Richard Moore, in particular whose A waterfall of a strange new kind gives a comprehensive description of the fountain’s history and design.
Richard prepared a brief for a feasibility study and identified an experienced Heritage Consultant able to undertake the work as well as making a generous donation to kickstart the fund raising.
The Heritage Consultant produced a report on its condition and outlined the restoration needs of the fountain, its two viewing platforms, pump room and receiving pool.
A Piazza Fountain Working Group , chaired by MCS, meets regularly to progress the restoration, while a wider Steering Group, chaired by Engage Liverpool, meets occasionally to involve other local stakeholders.
A Structural Engineer’s survey has confirmed that it is possible to restore the original water depth.
To enable us to fully finalise the restoration proposals, a firm of Engineering Surveyors has undertaken a detailed dimensional survey and generated at 3D interactive computer model of the fountain complex.
Seals aimed at preventing the buckets leaking have been designed by the leading seal manufacturer and the prototype seal purchased ready for testing on one of the smaller buckets.
Discussions are also underway with Welsh Slate and a leading mosaic tile manufacturer on the feasibility of restoring the original wall tiling on the fountain using polished dark blue grey Welsh slate mosaic tiles.
An Expression of Interest for National Lottery Heritage Funding was submitted in April 2023 and the NLHF have asked for more clarity on the future management and maintenance arrangements for the Fountain before they will consider our bi. We are therefore looking to produce an Options Appraisal re management and have had preliminary discussions with both the leaseholder and Liverpool City Council in recent months. Read the report of the latest Steering Group meeting HERE.
We are also working up a community engagement and events programme for the eventual re-opening of the fountain.
We have recently installed a Temporary Information Board by the fountain with a QR code for people to access more information and consider making a donation to the campaign.
Liverpool Piazza Fountain
In 1962 the Merseyside Civic Society commissioned the Welsh designer, Richard Huws, then a lecturer at the Liverpool School of Architecture, to design a kinetic fountain for central Liverpool. Dr Richard Moore, helped by university friends, all of whom were students of Richard Huws at the time he was designing his Liverpool fountain, has traced the history of the fountain – known locally as the ‘bucket fountain’ – exploring its origins, its opening in the Goree Piazza in May 1967, its subsequent demise, its restoration between 1997 and 2000 and its present condition in the re-named Beetham Plaza. The resulting report of January 2019 has now been updated to also record the recent threat to the fountain, its listing and its proposed future revitalisation in the Piazza.
In 2020 MCS presented Dr Moore with the Rita Cheesman Award for Heritage Interpretation in recognition of his outstanding work on this project (link to Richard Moore citation under Awards)