Designs will be appraised by an independent panel of judges, who will pay particular attention to the following:

> Original, innovative concepts and ideas
> Sustainability of the proposed design
> Potential for tourism investment
> Presentation and communication of the proposed designs

Important note: Entries must take into account Neptune Developments' approved landside designs for New Brighton and that the River Mersey is a working river.

The brief is broad to encourage creativity. Entrants could produce a 21st century pier to replace the much-loved Victorian pier demolished some years ago, or an imaginative scheme in some way celebrating New Brighton’s unique location as a resort on the River Mersey. Either way, the designs must be economically sustainable and attractive for tourism investment in the surrounding area.

Of course we are not implying that the winning entries will ever be realised, however it will be most interesting to see how engineers and architects of the future view New Brighton.

Supplementary guidance on the competition brief
The published Judging Criteria (www.brightennewbrighton.co.uk) notes that the competition brief is deliberately broad to encourage creativity and whilst mentioning the former pier doesn’t actually define a site.

In fact we intend that all of the designs submitted should connect in some way to the land side site of the former pier as defined on the sketch available as a pdf download here. This isn’t to say that we are limiting entries to a pier design, but rather we want to see ideas for this particular site and its relationships to New Brighton and to the River Mersey rather than ideas for site selection.

We have recently provided OS mapping for the site and its immediate surroundings in CAD-compatible DWG format to assist students with exploring plan layouts, this is available as a download from the Student Zone