Big building projects that will make a big difference to thousands of families and businesses in Plymouth are to get underway as part of the city’s Resurgam plan to jump-start Plymouth’s economy.
It’s full steam ahead for major schemes designed to help us all get around the city easily, regenerate run down areas, create new business space as well as new homes and get the construction industry back to work. The first part of the programme is worth £140.3 million but importantly creates 2,519 construction jobs and 244 permanent jobs.
In the next few weeks new industrial units at Broadley Park will reach a significant milestone with a topping out ceremony and between now and March 2021, the Council and its partners will be ticking off an impressive to-do list. They will:
- Complete the fit-out of The Box and open the £46 million cultural attraction with 920 construction jobs and 60 permanent jobs
- Complete the Eastern Corridor cycle improvements and the Billacombe footbridge The project is worth £5.7 million and will lead to 80 construction jobs
- Complete the first phase of concourse improvements at Plymouth railway station - a £1.2m project creating 20 construction jobs
- Start £4.8 million highway improvement works at Morlaix Drive creating 67 construction jobs
- Complete £6.3 million works to the Millbay Boulevard along Bath Street creating 112 construction jobs
- Complete improvements to Central Park and other play parks and playing pitches - £10.2m, 109 construction jobs
- In partnership with Thames Bank, complete the new hotel, retail and student accommodation at the former Derry’s store - £60m, 60 permanent jobs, 1,110 construction jobs
- Start work on hybrid units at Plymouth International Medical and Technology Park - £3.2m, 56 permanent jobs, 53 construction jobs
- Start work on Phase 3 of Langage Business Park - £2.9m, 68 permanent jobs, 48 construction jobs
Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “These are big projects that all help to support Plymouth’s economic recovery. Our infrastructure investment programme is a rolling programme of £75 million a year and for every million we bring in another £1,125,000 of external money. It’s crucial that we keep going, not just for the jobs they create now, but the opportunities they open up further along the road.”
The Council has been reviewing its projects to make sure they have the right support to progress or accelerate whilst keeping the workforce and the community safe. Some of the big investment projects were able to continue through the lock down, thanks to rigorous measures introduced by contractors to ensure workers remain safe on site.
Contractors Balfour Beatty were able to keep the Forder Valley Link Road construction site open by finding alternative suppliers and other resources to avoid time delays - despite the pandemic, this major project is still on target. This new transport link between the A38 and Derriford had 70 construction staff on site by June with a further nine working off site. A total of 19 supply chain contractors are involved with almost 60 per cent of the spending with contractors from the Devon and Cornwall.
Other projects that continued through lock-down were Oceansgate - which had the first virtual topping out ceremony in the country to mark Phase Two of the work. Over the lockdown an average of 30 people were employed on site which rose to 52 during June. It used 23 local contractors based within a 50 mile radius of the site.
During lockdown, up to 40 people were on site at the Box to reach capital completion. Wilmott Dixon were awarded their contract based on strong local spend and social value. This has included 72 per cent of sub-contractor spend from companies with PL Plymouth post codes representing about £10m worth of spend into the local economy.