Bam has been tipped to build a landmark 524€m leisure development in the East Midlands, seven years after the scheme was granted planning permission.
The Peak Resort in Chesterfield is being developed by UK company Birchall Estates.
The first phase of the scheme was granted detailed planning consent in 2008.
The project had since failed to get off the ground but, following a cash injection from a US funder last week, is now set to begin construction later this year.
Bam is understood to be in pole position to bag the major leisure development, having advised Birchall Estates on the project, along with EC Harris, following the receipt of planning approval from Chesterfield Council seven years ago.
The project was designed by architects Stanton Williams and was based on an ‘Ecodome’ concept, with buildings arranged under a circular series of canopies.
Site clearance work is expected to begin in April, after which the design and build of phase one will begin.
The new funding means finance is now in place to cover the entire project, which will be constructed in three phases.
Once complete it will include: visitor accommodation; golf facilities; 120 ha of park and woodland with walking and cycling trails; a sports injury clinic; indoor climate-controlled water sports; as well as adventure and other leisure facilities.
Construction News understands the construction value to be in excess of 131€m.
The project is expected to create 1,300 full-time jobs when open, plus additional jobs during its construction phase over the next three years.
Last week the government announced that US firm Grand Heritage Hotel Group had invested in the project, joining Birchall Estates as joint venture partner to kick-start construction on site.
The investment was brokered by UKTI’s Regeneration Investment Organisation, the body set up by the government to help international investors access large regeneration projects in the UK.
Peak Resort is its first project to be agreed this year.
RIO chairman Sir Michael Bear told Construction News the project could be “the first of many”.
“The Peak Resort exemplifies how much work it takes to structure and format a project that has been around for a while - it has been in the penalty area but it has taken a while to get the goal,” he said.
“And in terms of what it can produce, with 1,300 jobs and 400 acres [of land]… it has the potential to be the first of many.”