UK NEWS
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BWML REVEALS £3 MILLION GROWTH STRATEGY
repair and paint spraying. The investment will see improvements made to the jetties during 2017, followed by additional undercover storage space and new spray booth capacity. Improvements to visitor
moorings are proposed for Limehouse Basin in London. Options for craft visiting the capital are very restricted and Limehouse Basin enjoys high demand from domestic and cross channel leisure traffic. Floating homes will initially be
Sawley Marina
with investments across its portfolio of marinas amounting to £3 million in the first three years of the programme. Funding this ambitious and
B
wide-reaching strategy has been assisted by the sale of Whixall Marina on the Llangollen Canal in Shropshire to Grocontinental, a thriving local business group. The sale completed on 31st March 2017 with the new owners keen to make a smooth transition with existing moorers in the marina. Jeff Whyatt, BWML Managing
Director commented, ‘We can now concentrate on the development opportunities that exist within our remaining marinas. We have recently opened Pennington Wharf, a 58 berth marina on the Leigh branch of the Leeds and
28 FORE & AFT JUNE 2017
ritish Waterways Marinas Ltd (BWML) has revealed its five year growth strategy,
Liverpool Canal, which will be operated as a satellite site from our White Bear Marina at Chorley.’ There are numerous other
developments which are being progressed that include: The trend towards greater living
on water within both urban and rural settings continues and we are extending residential moorings at six sites to reflect customer demand, taking our total residential moorings across the BWML estate from 550 planning approved berths to 730. Sites involved include Sawley (Nottingham), Cowroast (Tring), Limehouse & Poplar (London), Ripon (N Yorks) and Packet Boat (Uxbridge).
A £350,000 investment over two
years at Glasson Basin near Lancaster will improve both its infrastructure and the boatyard workshop, which has an enviable reputation for quality work in boat
developed at Priory Marina in Bedford during 2017/18 and, if successful, two more sites will be considered. BWML secured outline planning permission for 12 floating homes in 2015 for Priory and we now have a partnership in place with a major UK lodge operator who has pioneered the technology to convert them to a waterborne setting’. Regarding new build sites and acquisitions, Jeff Whyatt commented, ‘We are actively discussing options across the UK. With significant new marina openings on the inland network since 2006, there are marinas which may well be more attractive to purchase rather than build from scratch. We remain committed to discuss options with existing marina operators as well as work to convert new builds in targeted locations.’ In addition to expanding
marina opportunities the recent investment in marina management systems (primarily the Harbour Assist system) is giving BWML the opportunity to engage with
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