Bayside revival: how £100m Eden will change Morecambe’s fate

“If I had some pounds to spare, I’d be investing in Morecambe.”

Those are the words of John Pye, managing director of the £100m double-domed immersive Eden Project Morecambe. Pye sees the eco-tourist attraction as a gamechanger for the seaside community, one that will catalyse the town’s renaissance and return its status as a leading North West holiday destination.

A new dawn for Morecambe

The shell-shaped “regional visitor attraction” is critical to the revival of Morecambe and is set to become a cornerstone of Lancaster City Council’s emerging masterplan for the area and the whole region, according to Pye.

Supported by £50m of government cash, the flagship project is on track to open in late 2028, and has hit RIBA stage three.

“We are confident we will start delivery this year,” Pye said.

“Given the amount of time things take in the property industry to get plans in place and to start and finish work, potential investors in Morecambe need to be ready for when the doors open at Eden.”

Pye expects Eden to be “the big draw” but insists investment must “step up” to ensure the offer is enticing across the whole town.

“It will be a snowball effect. People are going to need places to stay, they’ll need good restaurants, they’ll need good taxi and bus services, and so on.”

• Eden Morecambe’s John Pye is speaking at Lancashire Development Update on 29 January. Book your ticket

With the scheme gaining momentum and predicting the potential influx of more than 500,000 visitors each year, Pye, while recruiting his own team, is working with the town’s wider planners to begin to get its ducks in line.

“The city council needs to play catch-up,” Pye said. Those within Lancaster town hall are aware of the need to speed up masterplanning, and momentum is building.

“We are reaching out to businesses, the Chamber of Commerce, and tourism groups – there’s a big drive and push to get those investors in Morecambe,” Pye continued.

“It goes out to everybody to say: we’re knocking on the door, by the time you’ve got your plans in place and your places open, there’s going to be a really good prospect on the horizon.”

The economic ‘snowball’ will be felt across the region if the team can get it right. Credit: via planning documents

Andy Barnes, principal of Eden’s architect, Grimshaw, echoed Pye’s sentiment.

“Morecambe desperately needs a real catalyst for investment, for jobs, skills, and for educational and environmental reasons.

“I think our job as the architect is simple – it’s to create a great piece of architecture that the people of Morecambe can be proud of, and [create] the economic benefits that flow from that,” Barnes said.

Lancaster City Council is leading on a tourism partnership group, which has already met. It intends to instil collaborative thinking between all different aspects of the region’s tourism offer.

The group includes public and private bodies from around Morecambe Bay, Blackpool, and up to Carnforth.

This joined-up thinking aims to establish the region, from the Fylde Coast to the foothills of the Lake District, as one with plenty of diverse tourism offers.

Pye envisions heritage lovers visiting Lancaster, eco-enthusiasts travelling to Morecambe, and partygoers heading to Blackpool – with each town connected and economically supportive of the other.

“We don’t want to compete with the Lake District or Blackpool – we want to complement them,” he said.

“There are lots of conversations about how we can work as a broad partnership to promote Eden – selfishly, but also to make sure that people have a great experience when they come, but more importantly, they want to come back – that’s the key.”

“Yes, [Morecambe] has its problems”, confessed Barnes, “but if we can get businesses and local educators on board, it will stimulate other investors into the town”.

He added: “I’m hugely optimistic about having an impact, attracting people, but these projects take time.

“We’ve got our heads down now – now we’re saying, ‘this is going to be built’.”

The Realm of the Sun. Credit: Grimshaw

Architectural decisions

A project of this size and design will always be subject to unique challenges and setbacks.

“There’s pressure from all kinds of different things on these projects, especially the budget, but at the end of the day, we need to make something that’s spectacular and really going to make people want to visit Morecambe – as the architect, that’s something we feel particularly passionate about,” said Barnes.

The architect intends to create a walk-through experience that encourages visitors to explore independently, finding their own way around the three unique and immersive auditoriums.

Morecambe Bay’s natural environment is fundamental to the entire Eden experience, which will be underpinned by the ancient rhythms of the bay, its tides, and ecology.

“It’s not a straightforward building. It’s geometric and complex”, said Barnes.

“You’ve got a dark shell and a light shell – a very nicely contrasting building with the experience matching its design.”

Visitors will journey through the building’s three ‘realms’ – the Realm of the Sun, the Realm of the Moon, and the Metronome – carving their own path while stopping to watch digital and live performances dotted around the venue.

The larger dome, home to the Realm of the Sun, features a mass of plants and varied landscapes, described as “a bright tropical landscape of the near future”, centred around a multi-floored, explorable, 25-metre tall Elder Tree statue.

Visitors will have two floors to wander and external access to the Four Seasons Garden.

In contrast, the dark Realm of the Moon – themed on the tides of Morecambe Bay – will offer a hyper-real rock pool which transforms with cycles of tides, days, and seasons.

By lining the doomed roof with LED screens, Eden promises “an ever-changing immersive world”.

Barnes continued: “The idea is you can explore at your own pleasure and choose a different circulation route. It’s very much an exploratory immersive environment.”

The third ‘realm’ between the two shells is the Metronome. As the main arrival space, here guests will find a café, ticketing area, shop, and a commissioned statement art piece.

He added: “Eden Project Morecambe has evolved through the various stages that we’ve been through, but the general concept has always been the same – it hasn’t really changed.

“It’s been useful to have something strong, thematically and conceptually, to keep us tied to the basis of the design.”

The scheme will also feature an extensive external garden area to explore as part of the walkthrough experience. Credit: via planning documents

The next steps

A tender process for the scheme’s design and build contract is underway.

The scheme has gone through the high-value framework in the North West Construction Hub, according to Pye.

There are six companies on the £25m+ high-value framework – one of Bowmer + Kirkland, Kier Construction, Eric Wright Construction, Russell WHBO, Vinci Construction, and Sir Robert McAlpine is expected to sign the design and build contract.

Once the first stage tender is awarded at the beginning of next year, the project can move to RIBA stage four.

The LK Group has concluded ground investigations at the venue’s site, with only some additional groundwater monitoring left to see out.

With the site ready for foundations, the city council is preparing to make the most out of the project.

Lancaster City Council’s masterplan is still emergent but is expected to be rapidly formed over the coming months.

The local authority remains on the hunt for a development partner for the Frontierland site, which it sees as a lucrative opportunity.

With the confirmation of Eden’s development, investors with their eyes on Morecambe should be on high alert – the stage for Morecambe’s revival has now been set, and those who take advantage of the lucrative opportunities could catapult the town back into its mid-20th-century heyday.