Property consultancy wins contract for Whitehaven bus station
UK consulting firm Summers-Inman has won a contract to oversee the transformation of a Cumbrian bus station into a £4.1 million creative hub called Buzz Station & Watershed. The Buzz Station & Watershed is the first phase of a wider multi-million North Shore project, which aims to help revitalise the town of Whitehaven.
Whitehaven is a Georgian town, situated on the west coast of Cumbria, one of the first post-renaissance planned towns in the country. Like much of the North, Whitehaven was a major industrial centre after the Second World War, hosting a major chemical sector and coal mining operations. Both industries have since disappeared, however, and today the area’s only major industry is the nearby Sellafield nuclear complex, which is the largest local employer of labour and has a significant administrative base in the town.
In a bid to revive the historic town’s fortunes, property group BEC has undertaken a massive £300 million project to revitalise Whitehaven’s economy. Part of the North Shore initiative is already underway, with a scheme to transform a bus station in Whitehaven into a next-generation creative hub having already broken ground in July 2019. The new Buzz Station & Watershed will be powered by renewable energy, with photovoltaics to be installed on its roof, delivering energy to a lighting system, some of the IT networks and USB charging points.
Summers-Inman will be providing project management, cost management and principal design services on the scheme, following a competitive tender. The project is due to be open to the public in late summer 2020.
Commenting on the win, Ian Campbell, director of Summers-Inman, said, “We are delighted with this latest appointment, on what is the first project to hit site on BEC’s masterplan for Whitehaven regeneration. We value our relationship with BEC and are delighted to work in partnership with them to fulfil BEC’s vision of Buzz Station and the significant enhancements it will bring to Whitehaven and the local community.”
Formed from the 2002 merger of two British consulting firms, Summers-Inman is a Newcastle-based construction consultancy. It has a staff of 120 and a turnover in the last financial year of £8 million. The firm was recently appointed as a multidisciplinary contractor for a new student accommodation block at Teesside University.