Graham sets out Southport timeline
A construction management plan for the £73m Marine Lake Event Centre has been filed with Sefton Council as the contractor aims for completion in spring 2027.
Graham Construction was named as Sefton’s preferred contractor for its flagship project in January this year, replacing Kier. At that stage, work to clear the former Southport Theatre and Convention Centre, located on the Promenade, was around 80% complete.
In a project consented in 2023, the demolished complex will be replaced by the Marine Lake Event Centre, which features a 1,200-seat theatre, 2,400-capacity conference space, and a series of offices, meeting rooms, restaurants, and production facilities.
Public realm and a water/light show attraction are also part of the project. The Southport MLEC is the central element of the town’s £37.5m Town Deal award.
Project advisor CBRE has now discharged conditions attached to the planning permission by submitting a construction environmental management plan setting out the delivery programme – always a key moment, signalling a project’s status as ready to begin in earnest.
The documentation filed sets out the plan for the contractor’s compound facilities, including welfare facilities and site security and access. It also sets out Graham’s proposals to control noise, dust, and impact on general ecology and species such as bats.
According to the construction sequence section of the CEMP, site possession for the main phase of works is inked in for 22 April, less than a month away. The next few months will see a new access road created and other works, with permanent site set-up starting from September.
Completion of the main construction phase is expected towards the end of 2026, with the building handed over for testing. Practical completion in April 2027 for the AFL-designed scheme is the target.
All the recently filed documents, including the CEMP – which includes a set of diagrams setting out the various construction phases – can be viewed on Sefton Council’s planning portal with the reference DC/2025/00447.
The main planning permission’s reference number is DC/2022/01391.
When will it become common knowledge this scheme is over £20m over budget and that Sefton doesn’t have the £90m+ needed to build it?
By 90 mil
Southport really does need to an electrified rail connection to the West Coast Main Line if it is going to attract some of the bigger conferences and events. A link to the town from London via Wigan would help a great deal in allowing a direct access for this venue.
By Anonymous
Hope the pier is fixed by then too
By Paypaul
What about the pier? Is that going to be left to go to rack & ruin like the rest of Southport? Lord Street pink tarmac which made it unique tarmaced over-disgrace. Lord Street shops mostly closing. Rents/rates could be reduced to encourage retailers back? Cleaner streets would be good. Old BHS building disgusting, wouldn’t eat there awful standards. Is all this at the expense of Bootle Strand being totally refurbished. At least the council should be honest. Southport losing a lot of revenue!!
By Lis Davies
The lack of commercial commercial oversight and project management is shocking. Millions of pounds spent on an overly complicated design for a technically challenging building on an inherently difficult site. The whole process appears amateurish at best. Be interesting to see what the events operators contract looks like.
By Poor Procurement