Grand project to build stunning new Marine Lake Events Centre in Southport dealt major blow

The £73 million Marine Lake Events Centre (MLEC) is one of a number of schemes being developed across the borough, but is by far the most ambitious – and the most costly.

MLEC was approved after the successful bid for £37.5m of Town Deal funding for Southport and has benefited from £17.7m of funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The site clearance is already well under way and it was expected that construction works would start at the end of this year. The LDRS can confirm this is no longer the case.

A report on the Marine Lake Events Centre will be presented at a Sefton Council Cabinet meeting on Bootle Town Hall on October 2. Councillors will be asked to approve a series of recommendations including official acknowledgement of the project’s ‘budgetary pressures’ and its procurement process.

The report also provides an update on progress made to date under the Pre-Construction Service Agreement (PCSA) with Graham Construction (GC). Sefton Council had previously confirmed GC as the preferred development partner to complete the the MLEC project and announced in March that construction work was scheduled to start at the end of this year.

It is the second time a construction agreement has been terminated. Back in December 2023, Sefton Council confirmed it had ended the pre-construction services agreement with Kier Group.

Cllr Marion Atkinson said at the time: “Detailed steps are now being taken to appoint contractors for the enabling and demolition works, along with the main contract for the MLEC project.”

The search for a new partner seemed to have been finalised once discussions with GC started in January this year with the confirmed agreement in place by March. However, in a blow to the progress on the MLEC project, Sefton Council have confirmed the construction company has pulled out of the deal.

The council report for next week’s cabinet meeting states: “A new two stage procurement process was undertaken to secure a preferred main contractor, in December 2024 Graham Construction were selected as the preferred contractor after a robust procurement process with a PCSA being signed.

“Graham have been working with the Council’s delivery and design team to secure full cost certainty on the project; this has required all work packages to be tendered with a minimum of three returns from sub-contractors.

“Graham worked closely with the design team to finalise any stage 4 designs before entering the main contract. Once this takes place it is commonplace for the main contractor to take on any further design work through Stage 4 with the Council’s design team being novated across.

“In April 2025, following ongoing commercial negotiations, Graham confirmed that they will not build to the agreed details on MLEC. Engagement has been positive to date, with three contractors with the relevant experience having all confirmed interest in the scheme based on the programme and the G&T cost estimates.

“While all three contractors indicate construction costs that exceed the Council’s previously approved budget for the project, the savings of time and money compared to the current PCSA are significant.

“A target date of March 2026 has been set to conclude further pre-construction works with the main contract with one of the contractors above to then follow.”

Responding to Graham Construction’s withdrawal from the project, a spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “We are concluding the Pre-Construction Services Agreement with Graham Construction and would like to extend our thanks for their work over the past nine months.

“Following on from the Cabinet report, we will share further updates on the next stages of the project in due course.”