Whitby Maritime Hub: Crunch meeting to decide construction contract for contentious £10m facility

On Tuesday, January 21, North Yorkshire Council’s executive committee is set to approve a construction contract for the £10m maritime hub to celebrate Whitby’s “proud fishing and sailing heritage”.

Planning permission was granted last autumn despite concerns from residents that the design did not fit the area’s character.

After struggling to find contractors to carry out the work, council bosses have been urged to approve the contract – details of which have not been made public due to financial sensitivity – in order to avoid incurring further costs.

The scheme is funded through £17.1m awarded by the government’s Towns Fund and delays beyond March next year could see the £10m having to be returned to the government.

According to a report prepared for councillors, the construction company Willmott Dixon has divided the works into “sub-contract packages and competitively tendered each element with their supply chain to ensure best value”.

Officers said the prices had been through a verification process and were “satisfied that they are competitive”.

However, there is also a “balance of risk in relation to a decision to go ahead at this stage”, officers said, due to well-established inflation in the construction industry, adding: “The Willmott Dixon contract offer is dependent upon the prices being held by their supply chain and is time limited.”

It has been highlighted that there are “no tenants secured at this stage other than one tenant being at Heads of Terms stage”, alongside interest from other potential tenants.

That means there is a risk of a financial gap in the annual costs of the hub which would need to be met by the council – however, there is “no specific funding included in the identified budget” for such a scenario.

The proposed construction work would take 13 months and would be set to be completed in spring 2026 if the decision to proceed is approved.

A further risk to the project arises from the Government’s deadline for Towns Fund projects to be completed by March next year.

According to the council, it has been notified that “an extra year for delivery is potentially available for projects that can sufficiently evidence the need for extra time” on a case-by-case basis.

The Maritime Hub is set to house workshop spaces, a lobster hatchery and marine tanks and would also be used as a training space for people interested in working in the fishing industry.

North Yorkshire Council said the hub would “open doors to new economic growth”.