When construction of £73m Southport events centre could begin as council issue update
The main construction of a £73m events centre is not expected to take begin for several months, after already facing delays.
Sefton Council was given the green light for the Southport Marine Lake Events Centre (MLEC) project in 2023, with the facility expected to bring more than half a million new visitors to Southport each year and generate an estimated £18m to the local economy annually.
The state-of-the-art venue is one of the schemes being developed as a result of the successful bid for £37.5m of Town Deal funding for Southport. A significant proportion of this funding is for the centre, as well as for the Light Fantastic, a water, light and sound show in the adjacent Marine Lake.
To make way for the facility, the demolition of the former Southport Theatre and Convention Centre began towards the end of 2024.
Following the demolition, the works did not progress as smoothly as first hoped. In September last year, the LDRS reported on a major blow to the plans for the development of MLEC when it confirmed the Pre-Construction Service Agreement (PCSA) with Graham Construction (GC) had been terminated. This was the second time a construction agreement had been terminated.
But, earlier this year, Sefton Council announced it had entered a PCSA with VINCI Building, making it the preferred contractor for the creation of the MLEC. The local authority said this would ‘ensure’ main construction works would begin on site later this year, once a main contract was signed.
The council said that, ahead of this, another specialist contractor would begin building a new access ramp from the Upper Promenade down to the Marine Like Events Centre site.
The local authority described the new ramp as “a critical piece of infrastructure” that will provide safe and easy access for essential heavy machinery and building materials for the scheme’s main building phase.
Now, the council has chosen a contractor to carry out these works, and revealed when the main build phase of the new events centre could likely begin.
In an update this week, Sefton Council said: “We're pleased to announce that contractor Dowhigh have been appointed to deliver the next phase of works for the Marine Lake Events Centre project.
“These works involve the creation of a specialist access ramp so that materials, machinery and workers can get to and from the site while keeping disruption to a minimum for businesses and residents around the area.
“Construction of the ramp will commence in May and is expected to take around four months to conclude, after which the main build phase of the Marine Lake Events Centre will commence.”