Topping out ceremony for Blackpool's £100m Civil Service Hub

A milestone in the construction of the £100m Civil Service Hub in Blackpool has been marked, as it has now reached its highest point.

The seven-storey, 215,000 sq ft development at King St near Blackpool North train station will be the resort's tallest office building and will welcome more than 3,000 civil servants early next year.

The work is being delivered by Blackpool Council, alongside nationwide placemaker, Muse, and main contractor VINCI Construction. It is the third phase in Blackpool’s £350m redevelopment of the Talbot Gateway around the train station, which in total will bring over 8,000 professional workers and students into the town centre.

Coun Lynn Williams, leader of Blackpool Council, said: “Redeveloping the area around Blackpool North train station is a major part of our plans to make Blackpool better, creating jobs and opportunities for local people.

“If you look around town, you can already start to see new private businesses using the opportunity of extra workers on their doorstep and investing in new or improved premises and creating jobs for local people, which is fantastic.

“Anybody who has visited the town centre in the last eighteen months has seen the Civil Service Hub becoming a new landmark on the Blackpool skyline, but we are also making sure that it impacts local people positively. Working with Muse and Vinci, we have made sure that local Blackpool and Lancashire businesses have won contracts where possible, while we are committed to helping young people in Blackpool to find work and training on site.”

The regeneration of Talbot Gateway has already delivered the 125,000 sq ft Number One Bickerstaffe Square council office, a Sainsbury’s supermarket, and a refurbished 650-space multi-storey car park, alongside extensive public spaces for the community to enjoy.

A new 4 star 144-bedroom Holiday Inn hotel and Marco Pierre White New York Italian restaurant opened in May, while a tram-train interchange linking to Blackpool Promenade opened in June. Outline plans have also been approved for a multiversity campus for Blackpool and the Fylde College, bringing up to 3,000 students and staff into the area.

Elsewhere, full planning permission is being sought by Muse and Blackpool Council for a new £45m, 52,950 sq ft office off Talbot Road which would be home to over 1,000 employees, while plans for a new multi-storey car park are expected to be submitted later this summer.