The company has been selected through the Scape framework on the first of a two-stage contract to build Redcar and Cleveland’s Leisure and Community Heart, a £33 million leisure, business support and community facility in the heart of Redcar.

The multi-use regeneration project, situated on Kirkleatham Street, will give Redcar a new leisure facility that will include a six-lane, 25-metre swimming pool, additional training and leisure pool, plus dance hall and performance space and community facilities including a debating chamber and relocated registrars office.

Alongside the new leisure and civic accommodation is a business centre that will provide flexible business space to attract entrepreneurs and start-up companies to develop and commercialise new ideas, creating business and job opportunities for local people. Improved car parking will also create extra space close to the town centre and provide more secure parking for local amenities.

Now that planning permission has been granted, it is proposed that Willmott Dixon begin construction work in the New Year, with completion due by autumn 2013.

The development is part of the overall Redcar and Cleveland Economic Master Plan which aims to create and attract 14,617 new jobs, 610 new businesses, £4.5 billion private investment and £291 million public investment.

It is the largest ever public led regeneration scheme in Redcar and will also see Willmott Dixon deliver the 80ft vertical pier on the seafront, which will become a major landmark and tourist attraction for the region. The vertical pier is part funded by the NE ERDF competitiveness programme 2007 – 2011.

The ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013 is bringing over £300m into the North East to support innovation, enterprise and business support across the region.

Willmott Dixon managing director for North, Anthony Dillon, says, “This regeneration heralds an exciting new future for Redcar and its community, making a genuine lasting difference. As a company that has worked on many local projects, including building the first BREEAM ‘outstanding’ health facility for NHS South of Tyne & Wear in Houghton-Le-Spring, we appreciate the importance of the ‘local pound’. This ensures we use local businesses and support local jobs whenever possible on this exciting regeneration.”

Willmott Dixon is working with S&P Architects on the leisure side of the scheme and with +3 architects on the civic and business facilities. It is also using Buro Happold for all structural and civil engineering work.