31 March 2010
The £5m second phase of the Waterfront
Business Park in Barrow, including a new access road - Harding Rise
- has officially opened.
Capita Symonds has been providing a wide range
of engineering, environmental and planning services on the £25m
Business Park project since the scheme’s planning stage. The
company has been working closely with Cumbria County Council, West
Lakes Renaissance and Carillion on the development which comprises
three new business parks that will create 1,500 jobs, delivering
the biggest transformation to the town since the construction of
its docks in the 1860s.
The business parks will cater for a range of
businesses including offices, industrial, warehousing and
distribution. The scheme is part of the town’s £200m Waterfront
development which also features a new Marina Village boasting 650
homes, a hotel, leisure facilities, restaurants, bars, a new
400-berth marina, a Watersports Centre, a cruise ship terminal
providing a sea gateway to The Lake District, and a wetland nature
reserve.
The name Harding Rise is taken from an 18th
century map which identifies the area of Barrow Island through
which the new road runs as Harding Flat. Olde Barrow Isle, as it
was known then, expanded dramatically during the next century as
Barrow grew into one of Britain's major industrial power houses.
Harding Rise was chosen to link Barrow's heritage with the town's
current transformation as part of Britain's Energy Coast.
Local MP John Hutton was joined by Bob
Pointing, Programme Director of Barrow Regeneration, to unveil the
road in front of assembled stakeholders and community
representatives.
Bob Pointing thanked Capita Symonds for their
contribution to the project and said: "Harding Rise is a
magnificent gateway into Waterfront Business Park with panoramic
views to Walney and across the Irish Sea. Barrow is leading the
development of a new energy economy for Britain's Energy Coast and
this road allows us to connect with these new opportunities.
"We would also recognise the patience of
Barrow Islanders who have had to put up with the construction
traffic, although we were able to limit the inconvenience by
importing the equivalent of 2,300 lorry roads of material by sea.
It is fair to say everyone is delighted now Harding Rise is open
and I hope that Harding, whoever he was, would have been proud
too."
Cllr Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council's
cabinet member for highways and economic development, added:
"Various projects are taking place that will enhance Barrow and
boost the town for this and future generations. Harding Rise is a
key component of this regeneration and I'm delighted it is now
opening."