Barrow seeks to refresh 650-home waterfront vision 

The local council wants to appoint a consultant to draw up revised proposals for a 65-acre site close to Cavendish Dock in a bid to “give the private sector confidence in the scheme’s deliverability”. 

Barrow Council has embarked upon a procurement process to select a consultant to develop a masterplan and design guide for the town’s Marina Village site, a long-held regeneration priority for the authority.  

The site is located off Salthouse Road and Cavendish Dock Road and is allocated in the council’s local plan for redevelopment into a 650-home neighbourhood. 

A masterplan for the site drawn up by WYG was adopted in 2020 but a review of that document is required to “enable the infrastructure to be advanced with a review of delivery phasing to align with site remediation”, according to tender documents. 

The refreshed masterplan and design guide “will drive forward the development and give the private sector confidence in the scheme’s deliverability”. 

In addition, the successful applicant will be “required to deliver innovative and bespoke masterplanning… to inform investors and developers of the aspiration and requirement to deliver good quality design across the Marina Village”. 

Barrow has been pushing for the redevelopment of the site for more than a decade. 

In 2008, Story Group was appointed by West Lakes Renaissance, the urban regeneration company for Furness and West Cumbria, to create a £120m mixed-use scheme on the site. 

However, this project never progressed. 

Earlier this year, Thomas Armstrong was awarded the £3.5m contract to begin remediation works on the first 15 acres of the project. 

The Marina Village project will also benefit from a share of Barrow’s £25m Town Deal award. Homes England is also providing backing for the scheme, while an additional £1.5m from the Brownfield Land Release Fund was also recently secured.