Boston Lodge Works is one of the oldest railway engineering works in the world, located within a UNESCO World Heritage site. It now operates as an attraction, offering visitors the chance to explore our industrial heritage and experience an operational railway engineering site as it would have been over 150 years ago.
Many of the site’s earliest Grade II listed buildings required urgent conservation to ensure the safety of volunteers and support the aspiration of generating revenue from 250,000 visitors annually. From concept at RIBA stage 2 to completion, our quantity surveying team provided robust pre-contract cost planning, contractor procurement and appointment, and post-contract cost management and reporting, including to funders. Our diligent work ensured the project remained financially stable and was delivered within the critical success parameters defined in the capital cost budget.
Our work on this historically significant visitor attraction, part of the Ffestiniog World Heritage Site, included conserving and repurposing eight listed buildings, constructing three new buildings (including a new structure built into the rockface of the Top Yard), upgrading mechanical and electrical infrastructure, and enhancing the public realm to improve accessibility.
All tasks were undertaken sensitively to minimise disruption to operational site activities and mitigate impacts on ongoing tourism revenue over the 18-month project duration.
One of the primary objectives of this project was to address the national skills shortage in the industrial heritage sector.
Throughout the project a significant portion of the work, which had direct financial implications for us to manage, involved providing apprenticeship training, work placements, and workshops to upskill volunteers. Critical to the ongoing operation of the facilities on-site.
The new National Lottery Heritage Fund Research & Training Centre on-site provides an enduring legacy that will continue to support heritage skills development nationally.
| Procurement Route | Value | Services Provided |
|---|---|---|
| JCT: Intermediate with Quantities | £2.87m | Cost Planning, Cost Management, Quantity Surveying |
