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Yesterday (Thursday) the paperwork was signed and we bought the Grade II* pier and island in Weston-super-Mare from private owners Birnbeck Holdings Ltd.
The sale price of £400,000 has been funded by the RNLI and we’ll lease an area of the island to them so a new lifeboat station can be built.
It’s taken years of planning and negotiation to get to this stage but it now means we can start working with the lifeboat charity without delay to restore the historic pier.
Work will start on site in the coming weeks, beginning with tidying up the car park area, fencing and putting up safety signage.
Architects Haverstock Associates and engineers been appointed to develop detailed designs for repair works to the pier and associated buildings, followed by planning and marine consent applications.
We will be working as quickly as possible to get on site, prevent any further collapse and renovate the pier and its buildings for future generations to enjoy.
Three phases of funding have already been announced to start this work:
- emergency funding of £3.55m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to strengthen the pier ‘legs’ and create an interim walkway onto the island
- the first payment of £234,760 from a £4.525m funding pot from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop detailed proposals for the restoration and reuse of Birnbeck's buildings, an
- £4.4m from the government's Levelling Up Fund.
The sale includes us agreeing to lease an area on the pier approach for parking to Birnbeck Holdings Ltd, as well as providing permits in the Madeira car park should a development on the former Royal Pier Hotel site be completed before July 2033.
An updated formal agreement has been put in place which sets out how we’ll work with the RNLI in future years to return public access to the pier as quickly as possible and reinstate the RNLI’s vital life-saving service direct from the island.
Duncan Macpherson, RNLI principal estates manager, said: “Securing ownership of the island is a culmination of years of hard work and has been incredibly challenging.
“This is an exciting and crucial step for the charity and our dedicated team of volunteers at Weston RNLI.
“After many years of investigation of over 20 alternative sites in and around Weston, Birnbeck Island offers the charity the safest and most effective place for our volunteer crew to launch and recover their lifeboats.
“We’re delighted to be able to forward with the next stage of engineering and design works to restore access and reinstate a lifesaving facility on the island.”
Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, said: “This is wonderful news for Birnbeck Pier.
“We applaud the Council, RNLI and many other partners for their hard work in securing its future.
“It’s great to know that the repair of this beautiful historic structure, one of the most important Victorian piers in the country, can now get under way.”
The pier was designed by noted Victorian engineer Eugenius Birch and is on Historic England’s national Heritage at Risk Register.
We’re very grateful to our partners and funders, RNLI, Historic England, Birnbeck Regeneration Trust, National Lottery Heritage Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Levelling Up Fund for supporting us in getting to this stage.