Like many cities, Liverpool is emerging from the pandemic and looking towards the future.
The virus caused huge problems for a city that relies heavily on its hugely successful tourism and a visitor economy - the areas most deeply impacted by the lockdowns of the past two years.
As the city emerges and hopes to get back to some form of normality there are a number of crucial projects and developments that could arrive or be completed this year, that should take the city forward.
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We've had a look at some of the delayed, disrupted and long-awaited projects that should be transformational for Liverpool in 2022.
The New Royal Liverpool Hospital
It is bizarre and maddening to think that Liverpool's new city centre hospital should have been open for five years now.
This is especially frustrating when you consider how vital such a facility could have been during the public health crisis of the past two years.
The 650-bed new Royal was intended to be completed and open to the public in 2017.
It had already experienced delays when construction company Carillion collapsed in 2018, leading to much wider complications and longer delays.
Eventually, the Private Finance Initiative that had been used to fund the project was torn up and it was announced in 2018 that public money would be used to complete the building.
However, when new contractors arrived on the site they found significant construction problems that needed to be addressed - adding further delays and additional costs onto the project.
The new construction contractor had to strip out three floors of the building and start major work to reinforce the structure with steelwork and additional reinforced concrete.
In 2020, a report from the National Audit Office projected that the overall costs of the new Royal could tip over the £1.1 billion mark - although most of those extra costs will be picked up by private PFI investors and Carillion, rather than the taxpayer.
There was some positive news concerning the new building during the pandemic - when a state-of-the-art unit on the new site opened to help Liverpool's virus fight.
Three wards were used to form the 'step-down' unit which was used to help patients recover from Covid-19 and other conditions.
Finally, it looks like the finish line is edging closer and Liverpool should have access to its new hospital later this year.
It is expected that construction on the project, which lies next to the current old Royal building, will be completed this Spring.
It is then hoped that the facility will be open to the public later in the summer.
New Merseyrail trains
It was 2016 when it was first announced that Swiss company Stadler would be building a £460m new fleet of state-of-the-art trains for the Merseyrail network.
But six years on and the city region is still yet to have access to its new trains.
The project has been impacted by a dispute with rail union RMT, but its the covid pandemic which have really held things up.
The recent Omicron wave of the virus caused further delays to the process, affecting staff absences and training.
However, the combined authority said more of the new trains will soon be transported from Europe to the city region and it remains the ambition to bring the new trains into service 'as soon as possible this year.'
Lime Street
There is perhaps no more symbolic image of Liverpool's stalled progress than the disrupted scene around its most famous gateway.
The area around Lime Street Train Station and the iconic St George's Hall has been a building site for years now.
A key pillar of the council's controversial City Centre Connectivity Scheme, the redesign of the area - aimed at promoting active travel - has been beset by problems and delays.
Last Autumn, the council's main contractor on the scheme, NMCN, went into administration - causing further delays.
This also gave the council chance to reflect on some criticisms of the design of the scheme - particularly in terms of how buses would access the revamped area.
The appointment of a new contractor and the now agreed changes to the scheme, meaning the redevelopment of the area is expected to be completed this summer.
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