Project Detail
What is the Waveney Campus?
The Waveney Campus is a flagship project based in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and is part of a wider regeneration plan for the Lowestoft / Great Yarmouth areas.
The project will create a landmark administrative and scientific complex to house 1,000 staff from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Waveney District Council and part of Suffolk County Council. All three partners will share the new complex enabling all of the partners to deliver services more efficiently.
The proposed development is located at Riverside Road, Lowestoft (south of Lake Lothing). The brownfield site is currently under-used and part derelict and some bare land, with vacant units. The site is partially in public sector and partially in private sector ownership with a number of small businesses currently on the site.
Regeneration in the area is being co-ordinated by 1st East (the Urban Regeneration Company for Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth) and is supported by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
Who is running the project?
A project board runs the project, made up of representatives from all three partners (Cefas, Waveney District Council and Suffolk County Council) supported by EEDA and 1st East.
Why do the partners need to move from their current offices?
To ensure better value for money and more efficient ways of working to provide public services.
Pressing financial needs are driving the project – the partners currently occupy old and inefficient buildings in Lowestoft that are not fit for purpose. These buildings:
- are fragmented
- are uneconomical to operate with unaffordable maintenance liabilities
- do not enable more efficient ways of working
- are unsustainable.
The new complex will be designed to provide a flexible office environment for all three partners plus laboratory and technical facilities for Cefas.
The relocation to Waveney Campus will create savings on lighting, heating, water usage, waste and IT costs. The councils’ current offices do not offer value for money for taxpayers and Waveney Campus will enable the councils to radically reorganise themselves. One-stop shops will serve residents on the high streets in Lowestoft and the four market towns in Waveney, with efficient back-office functions located at the Campus.
The Campus also responds to central government’s requirement for locating local, county and central government operations together to deliver public services more efficiently. The Varney Report highlighted the Waveney Campus project as a case study and acknowledged it as “an exciting new development in Lowestoft involving the co-location of three local and central government bodies in new offices and laboratories that are part of a wider strategy for improving customer service in the town”.
The Campus is a key factor in Cefas' business transformation plan, which has been agreed with Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). It will help to secure the long-term sustainability of Cefas' business.
Why are local authorities being housed with Cefas?
To share facilities and learning, leading to a reduction in costs and operational efficiencies.
The building will provide a flexible space with shared use of services and facilities such as computer technology, a shared reception and meeting areas, and cleaning and building maintenance. This efficiency will provide savings that will be re-invested in frontline customer services.
All of the partners are non-profit-making public sector organisations. They have shared recognition of the important role that the Campus will have as a catalyst for the regeneration of the area, and a commitment to sustainability.
What will the new site look like?
The site will be transformed.
The proposed plans will transform the largely derelict waterfront into an attractive public space. The area will be landscaped in an environmentally sensitive manner and will provide an attractive space with a public footway along the restored waterfront.
The Campus will occupy 15,500m². The building is planned to be three storeys high and will be designed to be an attractive feature for Lowestoft. Inside, the building will provide a flexible office environment for all three partners as well as laboratory and technical facilities for Cefas.
The Campus will be an exemplar for “build quality” and environmental standards. For example our targets include:
- at least 10% and preferably 15% of the Campus energy requirements will be met from zero and low carbon technologies;
- at least 25% of the value of materials will be derived from recycled content;
- 100% of the wood used during construction and as part of the building must be from recycled and / or sustainable sources.
Aedas have been chosen as the architects for the project (www.aedas.com) and Turner & Townsend have been appointed as project managers (www.turnerandtownsend.com).
Why was this site chosen?
The Campus site is the only viable option that offers value for money for the taxpayer, is affordable for all three partners and meets all the necessary requirements.
The decision to build the Campus was not taken lightly and has been the subject of council meetings and long-term discussions between the partners. Government guidance provides a process that must be undertaken to assess the suitability of sites for developments such as the Campus. In-depth studies on the availability and suitability of sites within Lowestoft have been carried out and the Riverside Road site (south of Lake Lothing) was the only site that met with planning and all of the project objectives.
Cefas is a marine laboratory and just like all of the world’s top marine organisations it needs to be near the sea. This will enable it to use its £25 million ocean-going research vessel and other chartered vessels. It also needs access to seawater for its aquariums.
Although there is much under-utilised brownfield land within the urban regeneration area, there is no other site that is of suitable size and location to achieve the economies of co-location and the operational needs of Cefas.
How does this fit in with other plans for regeneration in Lowestoft?
The Waveney Campus is part of the wider regeneration plans for the Lowestoft / Great Yarmouth areas being co-ordinated by 1st East.
The proposed plans will complement the major investment already underway in Lowestoft, for example Asda, Kings Peugeot and Lings Honda dealerships, the offshore renewable energy centre – Orbis, and the recently completed £38 million South Lowestoft Relief Road.
Creating confidence in the private sector to invest in Lowestoft has historically been difficult to achieve. The investment in the Waveney Campus will be an important signal for investors, developers and residents that the transformation of the town is genuinely underway and is supported by the public sector.
Regeneration will ultimately see new homes, business sites, restaurants, marine leisure opportunities and construction jobs in Lowestoft.