Gallery featuring Banksy art planned for Baltic Triangle

A new gallery dedicated to showcasing British street art could soon set up shop in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle area.

The city council’s planning committee is being asked to approve a project to transform a building into space for work from a number of street artists, including Banksy.

Berry House, as it will be known, represents phase two of the wider Gallery+ scheme in the heart of the Baltic Triangle. The development, delivered by the Liverpool-based North Point Global partnership, includes 125 apartments, commercial units and workshop space for creative startups.

Banksy art to be featured includes the Liverpool Rat, which previously adorned the exterior of the White Horse pub on Berry Street, as well as Liverpool Bi-Plane, which was painted on the side of a Rumford Street building.

Banksy’s Never Liked the Beatles, from the former Community College catering school building, will also be featured, as will Secured, which was rescued from a skip.

The gallery at Berry House is the brainchild of Peter McInnes, an art collector and chairman of North Point. He said: “We’re delighted to be gathering together and restoring all of Banksy’s Liverpool works.

“Banksy gave them to Liverpool and we’re bringing them back and putting them somewhere where they can be enjoyed by the people of the city.”

Peter added: “The Baltic seems to be the ideal place to exhibit this collection, but also establish a street art gallery which will be as much about supporting young artists and creating a space for them to develop their talent and reputation.”

The collection at the gallery has been put together in partnership with Sincura Arts Club and Bankrobber London, both of which are exhibitors of Banksy’s work.

Liverpool-based BLOK Architects, meanwhile, is delivering designs for the Berry House development.

Antonio Garcia, managing director of BLOK, commented: “This is a really exciting project and is very much linked to the New Chinatown project.

“It’s part of a big opportunity to reconnect these parts of the city and begin to merge their energy and creativity to add real value to the city’s offer.”

Work on the Gallery+ development’s first phase is already underway. If planning consent is granted, North Point hopes to start work on phase two in early 2016, with completion scheduled for 2017.