News - Crossness
£1.5m of Lottery money allocated for Crossness Pumping Station restorations
28 November 2008
Construction and Property experts Schal awarded contract to implement historic project
In the 150th year since the “Great Stink” of 1858, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced over £1.5 million in funding to help restore the Grade 1 listed Crossness Pumping Station in Bexley, London.
The Pumping Station was the solution and product of Sir Joseph Bazalgette’s vision to save London from what then Prime Minister Disraeli called “a Stygian pool reeking with ineffable and unbearable horror.”
Construction and property experts Schal, the project management arm of TPS Consult (part of the Carillion Group) has been appointed Project Manager and Construction Design and Management Co-ordinators to implement the restoration project.
The restoration, part of a project costing £2.7 million, is due to start in early 2009. As well as conserving the buildings there will be a new exhibition exploring the social history of the site which will take in public health, pollution and the environment, encouraging visitors to celebrate the engineering triumph on their doorstep. A new café, car parking, education room and archive and an updated website will also be developed.
As a professional management company working in the property and construction sector, Schal’s business is the management and delivery of development, design and construction processes, from project inception to post completion aftercare.
Schal’s work on Crossness Pumping Station includes project management of exhibition, catering, retail, visitor facilities, ticketing, volunteer facilities, repairs to the roofs and external walls and landscape work to create a Victorian garden and habitat areas.
The contract continues on from the company’s earlier appointment to help the Crossness Engines Trust with its Stage 2 HLF application, where Schal’s experts advised the Trust’s Board on a range of project management issues including programme, strategic approach and consultant appointments.
Steve Child, Schal’s Director said: “This contract exemplifies Schal’s ability to work with clients, understand their business objectives, develop a strategic approach and secure funding. Schal is delighted to be involved with this restoration. The project concerns one of the most significant events in the history of London; the installation of a sewage system and saving over 15,000 deaths a year from Cholera.”
Peter Bazalgette, President of the Crossness Engines Trust and great-great-grandson of Sir Joseph Bazalgette added: “The Trust’s volunteers have worked tirelessly to restore one of the magnificent engines and to create an experience which visitor’s already enjoy. This project will allow us to improve on that experience, safeguard the fabric of the buildings and make possible new community ventures that will allow this monument to Victorian engineering to take on a new lease of life.”
Jonathan Rooks, Chairman of the Trust confirmed: “Schal were appointed because we were impressed with the commitment they had shown to our project so far. It can't be easy working with an organisation with so many active volunteers, Schal's team have worked so well with everyone involved so far that we have confidence in their abilities to help us bring our project to fruition on time and in budget."
