East Lindsey District Council’s flagship Town Deal project is making great progress as the Campus for Future Living starts to take shape in Mabelthorpe.

A progress site visit was attended by Cllr William Gray, South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership officers and some of the project’s partners including the Marisco Medical Centre, Lincolnshire Primary Care Network Alliance and Lincs Digital.

Lindum Group, the Council’s contractors for the project, led the tour of the Centre as the steel frame and upper floor of the main building are now in place.

Work started in February and Lindum are scheduled to handover the Stanley Avenue site back to the Council in March next year.

Cllr William Gray, Portfolio Holder for Better Ageing and the Political Champion for the project said: “It has been fantastic to come to Mablethorpe and see how much the Campus site has changed. You now get a sense of its scale and can really visualise how the Centre will look and compliment the surrounding landscape.

“It has been great to share the progress with some of our partners and to find out about the plans by Lindum to engage with the area’s young people to encourage careers in construction.

“Social Value is very important to East Lindsey and the local community and there will be lots of opportunities now to engage with the various communities, as we have already done, so they can be part of this exciting opportunity in Mablethorpe.

“Lindum Group is doing a fantastic job and we are all excited about the opportunities the Centre will bring to Mablethorpe, the district, and wider region.”

Social value is the added benefit a contractor can bring to the community while working in the area. It can include such things as using local labour, local suppliers, and engaging with schools to grow the future construction workforce.

The £8.6m Campus, supported by the Connected Coast Board, offers significant potential to improve the health and wellbeing for residents in Mablethorpe, the Lincolnshire coast, and wider East Lindsey. For the first time, Mablethorpe will be at the forefront of medical innovation, training, research and development.

Lindum Managing Director Freddie Chambers said: “It was fantastic to be able to walk around the site and see the progress being made. With the steel frame now finished you can start to get a feel for how this building will become part of the community.

“As a local Lincolnshire contractor, we believe it is important to have a positive impact in the communities which we live and work, which is why we are trying to use local suppliers and involve local people where we can. We have been involved in the Mablethorpe area for over 15 years on various projects, including housing and most recently the new B&M store.

“With the construction age gap ever widening, we are planning to get involved locally with the next generation and hopefully inspire them to consider a potential career in construction, be that the boots on the ground as a brick layer or joiner, or those working behind the scenes as quantity surveyors or estimators.”

The Centre will include two laboratories, a learning auditorium and teaching rooms, a social enterprise coffee hub, as well as an accommodation area on site, a children’s play area, and a 35-space car park.

Chris Baron, Chair of Connected Coast who attended the site visit said: “It is fantastic to see the significant progress that is being made on the Campus, with the development really taking shape now.

“The Campus is our flagship Town Deal project in Mablethorpe and one that is set to be transformational for the area, firmly positioning Mablethorpe as a national leader in medi-tech and care.

“The exciting progress that we are seeing on the ground is testament to the partnership working behind the project. It is great to see our shared vision for the site being translated into reality.”