Developer lights up race for £50m Blackpool office

Contractors are on notice for a £50m deal to build a new office in Blackpool.

The project, which is being masterminded by Morgan Sindall’s development arm Muse on behalf of the local council, will include site clearance and preparation, as well as constructing a 24,500 sq m office building.

The seven-storey block will be a mix of category A, B and C office space.

A Prior Information Notice readying firms for the job has been published on the Official Journal, with a contract notice expected to be out by 26 February.

The project is part of Muse’s wider £220m Talbot Gateway scheme.

The first phase of development – made up of a new 125,000 sq ft council office building, a 120,000 sq ft supermarket for Sainsbury’s and a refurbished 650 space multi-storey car park – was completed in 2014.

Phase two, which Scottish firm Robertson is currently working on, includes building a new Holiday Inn hotel and connecting the seaside town’s tram system with the Blackpool North train station.

Construction of a new high street underpass is expected to be completed next May, while the hotel will be finished the following summer.

The tram work is being carried out between April and August next year.