News: What the new £8m café means for Rother Valley
Kier Construction has delivered an incredible new café and events facility in Rotherham which stands to be an important asset for the future of Rother Valley Country Park.
Work began on The Waterfront in 2024 creating a new state of the art building housing a new eatery and indoor function space with views extending over the lake.
Opening in April and set in a stunning lakeside location, The Waterfront Café has been thoughtfully designed to deliver an exceptional visitor experience, with over 200 covers in a modern, light-filled setting that makes the most of the surrounding views.
Alongside the café, The Waterfront Function Space offers a versatile venue for events, celebrations and community gatherings, all within a striking contemporary building that connects seamlessly with the natural landscape.
It is envisaged that the new building will help host a million visitors per year who come to the park for events, food, and the many leisure pusuits and water sports on offer.
Tom Hague, senior site manager for Kier, said: "This building matters for a number of reasons. First of all, this site is very well visited. It offers a range of activities and opportunities for people in the local area. But it's seen very little investment since it opened in the early 80s. And this creates more opportunities. The existing facilities are starting to become a little bit tired. And there is opportunity here to get more people in and offer a greater offering for the wider public within this area.
"I think getting people outdoors and into this sort of environment is quite key. This site is situated between Rotherham and Sheffield, and it draws upon that area and the larger region. It's well known for the activities on offer down here, such as the water sports, various different biking and walking opportunities as well. And this facility enables people to come down and enjoy that space and get outdoors.
"This project means a lot to me because I've got a lot of memories and history here. I've spent many weekends here on the water sailing, undertaking various different water activities. I'm often running around the lake as well. I'm a local person to this project. I live in Rotherham, so it's fantastic to be able to deliver projects here where I live. And it's a facility that I'm going to use and bring my family down as well."
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Funding for the project came from the government's Levelling Up Fund, where Rotherham Council was successful in securing £19.5m for the town centre and £19.9m for a number of connected projects around the leisure industry.
Neil Best, Head of Commercial Development and Visitor Experience at Rotherham Council, said: "The project is really important not only for the borough but specifically for Rother Valley in that, since post-COVID, green spaces, as you'll know across the country, have seen a massive influx of visitors, and this is no exception. We get nearly a million visitors a year here now. And the facilities that have been here previously just clearly weren't sufficient to deal with that number of visitors.
"So, we had a fantastic opportunity through what was then the Levelling Up Fund to invest in the park, and this project is the result of several years of endeavour along with [architect] AHR and Kier.
"We are now able to cater for visitors all year round. We have an opportunity to develop a new strain of business in the park through our events programme. We will also be able to cater for bigger events within the park, and obviously, it's an asset in its own right — people will come to visit it."
The Waterfront website
Images: Kier
Work began on The Waterfront in 2024 creating a new state of the art building housing a new eatery and indoor function space with views extending over the lake.
Opening in April and set in a stunning lakeside location, The Waterfront Café has been thoughtfully designed to deliver an exceptional visitor experience, with over 200 covers in a modern, light-filled setting that makes the most of the surrounding views.
Alongside the café, The Waterfront Function Space offers a versatile venue for events, celebrations and community gatherings, all within a striking contemporary building that connects seamlessly with the natural landscape.
It is envisaged that the new building will help host a million visitors per year who come to the park for events, food, and the many leisure pusuits and water sports on offer.
Tom Hague, senior site manager for Kier, said: "This building matters for a number of reasons. First of all, this site is very well visited. It offers a range of activities and opportunities for people in the local area. But it's seen very little investment since it opened in the early 80s. And this creates more opportunities. The existing facilities are starting to become a little bit tired. And there is opportunity here to get more people in and offer a greater offering for the wider public within this area.
"I think getting people outdoors and into this sort of environment is quite key. This site is situated between Rotherham and Sheffield, and it draws upon that area and the larger region. It's well known for the activities on offer down here, such as the water sports, various different biking and walking opportunities as well. And this facility enables people to come down and enjoy that space and get outdoors.
"This project means a lot to me because I've got a lot of memories and history here. I've spent many weekends here on the water sailing, undertaking various different water activities. I'm often running around the lake as well. I'm a local person to this project. I live in Rotherham, so it's fantastic to be able to deliver projects here where I live. And it's a facility that I'm going to use and bring my family down as well."
Advertisement
Funding for the project came from the government's Levelling Up Fund, where Rotherham Council was successful in securing £19.5m for the town centre and £19.9m for a number of connected projects around the leisure industry.
Neil Best, Head of Commercial Development and Visitor Experience at Rotherham Council, said: "The project is really important not only for the borough but specifically for Rother Valley in that, since post-COVID, green spaces, as you'll know across the country, have seen a massive influx of visitors, and this is no exception. We get nearly a million visitors a year here now. And the facilities that have been here previously just clearly weren't sufficient to deal with that number of visitors.
"We are now able to cater for visitors all year round. We have an opportunity to develop a new strain of business in the park through our events programme. We will also be able to cater for bigger events within the park, and obviously, it's an asset in its own right — people will come to visit it."
The Waterfront website
Images: Kier
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