Redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s 40-year-old Marina Centre is scheduled to start on Monday, February 3, with demolition crews moving in to clear and prepare the seafront site for construction of an exciting new state-of-the-art Water and Leisure Complex.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s once-in-a-generation £26m investment will be a major year-round boost to the economy and community for decades to come, acting as a catalyst for potential further investment, whilst supporting health and well-being across the borough.
The new Marina Centre will create a truly year-round anchor attraction on the Golden Mile, including a six-lane 25m pool with full disabled access and suitable for competitions and galas, a confidence water area and learner pool with moveable floor, leisure water with fun play features, two water flumes and a splash pad.
The complex will also be equipped with a health suite with sauna, steam and spa, 100-station health and fitness gym with views to the sea, four-court multi-purpose sports hall, fitness and spin studios, indoor climbing zone for all ages, and a café with fabulous views to the beach.
To pave the way for this exciting new beginning, the council’s demolition contractor McFletch is scheduled to move onto site on Monday. After two weeks of site set-up, installation of hoardings and mobilisation activity, the site is scheduled to be levelled within three months to enable construction to commence in late spring. Material from the old centre will be re-used as part of the groundworks. The new complex is scheduled to open during summer 2021.
During the works, plans are in place to minimise any temporary impact on the seafront, which is already significantly reduced as the new centre is being built on the site of the old one. In addition, the wooden hoardings along the whole Marine Parade frontage will be decorated with a beautiful artwork telling the story of the redevelopment project and the seafront itself, including lovely photos from across the decades.
Cllr Carl Smith and Cllr Trevor Wainwright, leaders of the main political groups, said: “Following significant project development, the start of on-site works is hugely exciting as the council continues to drive forward this once-in-a-generation investment for the borough. The impressive new Marina Centre will be a game-charger, acting as both a catalyst for potential further investment and an important hub to support community health, well-being and fitness.
“The old Marina Centre was great in its day but has come to the end of its life, and its redevelopment is an exciting new beginning as part of our regeneration ambitions for the seafront and wider borough. This is about the future: the sort of facility we want our children and grandchildren to have and enjoy.
“Over the coming months, we’re sure that residents and visitors will watch with interest as the site is carefully levelled and cleared, opening up long-hidden views, and the new state-of-the-art landmark facility takes shape, benefitting the seafront and whole borough for up to 40 years.”
For more information about the project, including a Q&A, artist’s impressions and walk-through video, please visit www.great-yarmouth.gov.uk/
The project to save Great Yarmouth’s unique Winter Gardens has been successfully shortlisted to apply to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with the borough council now working closely with a preferred operator to develop the funding application.
The Grade II*-listed at-risk landmark, which has dominated the famous Golden Mile since 1904, is a heritage gem of national significance as the UK’s last surviving Victorian seaside cast iron and glass winter gardens.
Following significant and ongoing project redevelopment, Great Yarmouth Borough Council submitted a successful Expression of Interest to the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Horizons Awards scheme and is through the initial stage of the process.
Updated unique designs have been revealed for the redevelopment of Great Yarmouth’s Market Place, a key part of Great Yarmouth Borough Council’s exciting vision to regenerate the town centre.
The investment will see the market facilities significantly improved in the heart of the Market Place, with new units under anarchitecturally-striking canopy, designed to ensure the market is brighter, more inviting and compliments the historic setting.
This updated design has been shaped over the last 18 months, through public engagement around the initial ideas and original design, followed by individual detailed conversations with the six-day market traders.
Great Yarmouth’s recently-restored historic Venetian Waterways have gone on to win two more awards only months after opening to the public.
The £2.7m renovation was led by Great Yarmouth Borough Council, in partnership with Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and with key support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The main works were completed between June 2018 and August 2019 by community groups, volunteers and the council’s main contractor Blakedown Landscapes.
The restoration included refurbishing the Boating Lake and Island Café as well as the Venetian bridges and thatched weather shelters and faithfully restoring the planting scheme. After the successful opening of the Waterways site at Easter, the Boating Lake itself and the Café Island also reopened in August with Community Access Trust managing the concession.
Great Yarmouth Festival of Bowls, the biggest outdoor open bowling event in the country, is getting underway at Great Yarmouth seafront, with some 1,100 bowlers competing over four weeks.
Organised by Great Yarmouth Borough Council and managed by Brian Grint and the Festival of Bowls Committee, this year’s festival is taking place on the Britannia Bowling Greens between Sunday, August 25 and Friday, September 20.
Tournament coordinator Brian said: “This year’s festival looks to be another big year. Great Yarmouth is the UK’s bowls capital and the seafront is the best bowls venue in the country – you can’t beat it for atmosphere, and people come back year-on-year to meet old friends as well as for the high standard of play.
“It’s not just about playing bowls, it’s about Great Yarmouth as a place. The players bring their families and go to the different attractions in Great Yarmouth. Everyone enjoys fish and chips, a cup of tea with a doughnut and you can’t go to Great Yarmouth without having an ice cream.”
The Grand Reopening of Great Yarmouth’s historic Venetian Waterways has taken place following a year of major restoration works, with the Boating Lake and Island Café back in use for the first time in about a decade.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council, working with Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and dedicated volunteers, has led an ongoing £2.7m restoration of the unique Grade II-listed seafront park and tourist attraction, supported by The National Lottery, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and the Government.
First opened in 1928, the park was commissioned by the council as an employment relief programme after the First World War. It was hugely popular with generations of holidaymakers until it declined in the latter 20th century, leading to the loss of historic features and planting in the Waterways, and the draining of the Boating Lake in 2014.
Since restoration started in June 2018, the project has seen the Boating Lake and Island Café faithfully refurbished, the Venetian bridges and thatched weather shelters restored, and volunteers working alongside the new Waterways gardeners to reinstate the original beautiful and bold planting scheme, which was praised at the time by the RHS.
