A company whose work has ranged from a multi-million-pound project at Leicester University to toilets for historic Ixworth House in Suffolk, is to work on new shops and flats in Wisbech.
Pick Everard will project manage the re-development of 24 High Street as part of the town’s £1.9m funded National Lottery grant renovation programme.
24 High Street is the former Cook’s butchers and Fenland Council once earmarked it for ‘The Gap’, a community building with a limited life span.
The Gap would have had a temporary viewing platform for visitors but the plans were quashed amidst doubts as to whether it suited an historic fenland town.
24 High Street was the site of a four storey 18th century building prior to its collapse 30 years ago; there has not been a building on the High Street frontage since that time.
The Wisbech High Street Project, which is supported by a £1.9million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, is working to regenerate the High Street’s derelict sites and bring empty properties back into use, as well as restore other historic High Street buildings.
Pick Everard will now work with architects on a final design for the site, before applying for planning permission.
A council spokesman said the ditched Gap scheme: “Many were skeptical of whether such a development would fit in with the historic look of the High Street and local conservation area.”
In the summer the previous plans were shelved “as the legal barriers which had prevented a permanent building from being put forward in the beginning were overcome by the council”.
Cllr Chris Seaton, portfolio holder for heritage, said Pick Everard would deliver “a longer-term and much more economically viable solution for the site”.
The finished product “will contribute vastly to the High Street’s regeneration.
“Work can now begin on the design stage of this exciting project, ready for plans to be submitted early next year”.
He said once complete the multiple high street projects “will dramatically improve the appearance of the town for years to come”.
Wisbech High Street Project was set up in 2017 after securing the Lottery Heritage Fund grant.
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