Breaking news: Lottery lifeline secures future of Birnbeck Pier restoration 🎉 Our bid for an additional £5.54m in funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the restoration of #BirnbeckPier has been successful, it has just been announced. Councillors, who were made aware of this news immediately ahead of this evening’s full council meeting (Tuesday 16 September), voted in favour of awarding the contract to restore the structure of the Grade II* Listed pier in Weston-super-Mare. The contract award was previously due to be determined at the July full council meeting but this not possible due to the RNLI withdrawing from the project days before. Councillors were set to consider the future of the restoration of the Birnbeck Pier structure and the major funding gap that placed that element of the project at jeopardy. However, the decision required from them changed following news of The Heritage Fund’s award. The contract has been awarded to Mackley, a specialist civil engineering contractor with extensive experience and expertise of working in a marine environment and with heritage structures. This follows a competitive open tender process that took place between 30 January and 25 April 2025 that resulted in four bids. North Somerset Council also committed capital funding to cover risk contingency, ensuring the project is delivered responsibly and sustainably. Work on the pier structure is due to start by the end of 2025 and take just over a year, completing by the end of 2026. You can find more information and links in the comments 🔗 👇 #WestonsuperMare #SuperWeston #Weston #Placemaking #Heritage
It will be interesting to see that come to life.
This is fabulous news! 👏
When will the work start on the bridge.
This phase of the project has been made possible thanks to £15,544,799 in total from The National Lottery Heritage Fund (made up of this most recent grant of £5,544,799 in full added to the £10m previously awarded in October 2024), in addition to funding from the #NationalHeritageMemorialFund, the UK Government and Historic England. This brings the total of external funding secured for the restoration of the Birnbeck Pier structure to over £20m, reflecting the national significance of the project and the confidence funders have in its future. Local people have been hugely important to the campaign to save the pier. This includes the BIRNBECK REGENERATION TRUST and Friends of the Old Pier. 🔗 Read the story in full ➡️ https://orlo.uk/alXGJ 🔗 To find out more about the Birnbeck Pier project, visit the information hub next to the pier or our website at https://orlo.uk/90op0