News: Work begins on Thrybergh Country Park revamp

Work is underway on a café refurbishment project and outdoor landscaping at a country park in Rotherham.

The café upgrade – set to be completed this winter - will transform the aging building at Thrybergh Country Park into a modern lakeside hub with improved indoor and outdoor seating, better access, and upgraded facilities.

Rothbiz reported last month on local firm O&P Construction had been appointed as the main contractor by Rotherham Council.

The project has been given a budget of £789,873 and is being funded by a £19.9m package of investment secured by the Council from the Government’s Pathfinder funding.

Improvements include a new kitchen, an updated interior, a new outdoor terrace and fully accessible toilets and entrances.

The café will also feature modern design elements that blend with the park’s natural surroundings, while visitors with a sweet tooth are in for a treat, as the new café will serve ice cream.

While the work is underway, a temporary café service will operate at the nearby Tutti Fruitti ice cream parlour, so visitors can still enjoy refreshments during their visit.

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The work at Thrybergh is part of the Council’s wider aim to build a thriving leisure offer and visitor economy in Rotherham.

Cllr Lynda Marshall, Cabinet Spokesperson for Community Safety and Street Scene, said: “Thrybergh Country Park is one of our most loved green spaces, and this investment will help it reach its full potential as a welcoming, accessible destination for residents and visitors alike.

“The café refurbishment is just one example of how we’re forging ahead and enhancing our local attractions to support wellbeing and Rotherham’s growing visitor economy, by creating jobs and encouraging more people to spend time - and money - in our borough.”

In addition to the work at Thrybergh, the £19.9m package is being used to create a new café at Rother Valley Country Park, transform part of Wentworth Woodhouse’s Grade I listed stable block to include a new commercial kitchen, café and events space, while Magna has benefited from exhibition upgrades and an improved visitor experience.

The investment has also led to the creation of Skills Street at Gulliver's Valley Resort and a new incubator space at the former Maltby Grammar School.

A larger project was initially planned for Thrybergh with £2.5m plans for a new café building, but they were scrapped due to rising costs.

O&P Construction website

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News: Contractor appointed to Rotherham country park revamp

A local firm is set to get to work on a café refurbishment project and outdoor landscaping at a country park in Rotherham.

Securing money from the Government's Levelling Up Fund (LUF), £19.9m was awarded for a number of connected projects which aim to build a new leisure industry that responds to the challenges of economic recovery and health and well-being.

A £2.5m improvement plan for Thrybergh Country Park moved a step closer in 2023 after Rotherham Council's plans for a new café building were approved but in July 2024, the council's cabinet approved a new way forward which meant that there was a "reduced scope" for the Thrybergh scheme where a brand new café building was scrapped and replaced by a refurbished café and outside space.

Following market testing, the project required "revised budgets as a result of the impact of inflation and the volatile national and international construction market."

The new scheme has been given a budget of £789,873 and approved plans, drawn up by the council's design and projects team, showed a refurbishment and alteration of the existing café building, and revised level access arrangements with the creation of a new ramped entrance and landing.

The development also includes increasing the size of an existing outdoor seating/terrace area, with associated hard and soft landscaping works. Fixed external canopies to accommodate covered seating for visitors of the café and country park could also be added.

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A new entrance would be to the lakeside with booth seating inside to make more efficient use of space. The new café design provides up to 60 covers internally, whilst the outdoor terrace will provide space for up to 100 covers externally.

Wath-based O&P Construction has been appointed as the main contractor for the project were physical works are programmed to commence in "late July 2025 and complete by December 2025."

A limited café offer will be maintained from the adjacent building throughout the delivery of the works.

O&P began back in 1971 and now turn over £20m of projects a year. It is currently working on a £3m school extension construction project at Waverley.

The work at the café accompanies £325,000 of improvements to the paths around the popular country park.

Thrybergh Reservoir was initially excavated in 1880 and still occupies the land to the present date. It came under the management of Rotherham Council in 1980 and was then developed into a Country Park and Nature Reserve by 1983.

O&P Construction website

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News: Contractors appointed for Rotherham Council housing developments

Prominent housing developments led by Rotherham Council are a step closer with the appointment of construction firms for the multimillion pound contracts.

The council says that it is on track to fulfil its promise of delivering 1,000 new homes across the borough by summer 2027.

At Eastwood, the prominent council-owned former car park on York Road is set to be transformed with 12 new affordable house on what is considered to be a gateway site into Rotherham town centre. Here four 2-bedroom accessible flats, six 3-bedroom dwellings and two 2-bedroom dwellings are being built.

At the former Netherfield Court care home nearby, 19 affordable dwellings (a mixture of 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom housing) are planned.

With planning permission secured, Scunthorpe-based GS Kelsey Construction Ltd has been appointed using a Pre-Construction Services Agreement (PCSA) so that they can engage early in the construction phase. The value of the PCSA stage 1 contract is worth £236,413 with the total contract valued at £7.9m.

The appointment follows on from RH Fullwood & Co Ltd being appointed as partners to bring forward council projects in the north of the borough, and through another PCSA at Thornhill, and O&P Construction working on council schemes at Canklow.

£432,000 in Brownfield Housing Fund grant funding has been secured via the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to support the delivery of 27 new Council homes across the sites. Grant funding has also been secured from the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), managed by Homes England.

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On the site of the former Ship Inn in Swinton, a £787,000 contract covers four, one-bedroom, semi-detached bungalows. In neighbouring West Melton, building work is taking place at pace on two separate developments which will see the area benefit from six, two-bedroom, semi-detached houses and four, one-bedroom apartments on a contract worth £1.7m.

Pontefract-based RH Fullwood is using modern methods of construction here to enhance the speed of the builds, meaning that the new homes will be ready for occupation sooner, helping to mitigate against the impact on the local community during construction.

To boost numbers further, Rotherham Council's Cabinet approved this week a development to build 18 two and three-bedroomed homes in Denman Road, Wath. This site is one of three sites earmarked for Council homes in the area – with a further ten homes planned in Bushfield Road and Valley Drive. All are subject to the planning process.

Cllr Linda Beresford, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “The Council is committed to supporting our residents with their housing needs – and I’m delighted that we’re on track to fulfill our promise of delivery 1,000 additional homes for local people by summer 2027.

“However, with over 7,000 households currently on our housing register and the level of demand continuing to rise, it’s vital that we continue to work quickly to ensure more residents have a safe, secure place to call home.”

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News: Houlton lands Rotherham housing construction contract

Hull-based Houlton Construction has won the contract for a long awaited housing development at Rawmarsh in Rotherham.

One of a number of projects to get started under Rotherham Council's new "Rother Living" brand is at Bellows Road in Rawmarsh where the regeneration of the former shopping centre has taken a number of years.

Planning permission was recently granted for 58 houses on vacant land. The brief for the development was to "provide a range of contemporary and stylish affordable homes to meet a range of people with shared ownership houses, to create a truly sustainable neighbourhood."

A range of apartments and houses are proposed.

Outline planning approval was granted in 2009 for a mixed-use development of retail and housing on the site but developers ROK went into administration shortly after. Plans for the first phase of retail progressed in cooperation with new council partners, Caddick Developments and new tenants on site included Tesco, Heron Foods, The Post Office and Vantage Chemist.

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Rotherham Council will be spending £50m over the next three years to build homes across the borough that meet the needs of residents and over half of the total will be council houses. Properties will be available to rent, part-own or buy.

In 2017, Rotherham Council was awarded £6.81m of grant funding through the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA's) Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP).

WATES Residential Ltd, one of the Council's main construction partners, has already started on the "Site Clusters" programme that will see 217 homes built across seven sites in Maltby, Canklow, East Herringthorpe and Dinnington.

In addition, O&P construction has already begun work, including work on specialist bungalows and older people bungalows, on various smaller sites around the borough.

Cllr. Dominic Beck, Cabinet Member for Housing at Rotherham Council, said: "We are passionate about building more homes in the Rotherham as part of our ambitious plans to transform the borough, making it a destination where more people want to live, work, thrive and spend their leisure time.

"I am delighted that the construction of 336 homes is already underway and that a range of needs will be met, particularly older people through the 20 bungalows and 15 apartments being built, and homes for first time buyers – both concerns expressed by our residents when consulted on housing priorities."

Further schemes will be added to the housing building programme as the Council continues with its Masterplan for Rotherham town centre. The schemes are also set to bring with them employment and training opportunities for people in the borough.

Houlton Construction website

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News: O&P Construction bags council contract

Local contractors O&P Construction will build twenty new build bungalows that will be added to Rotherham Council's housing stock to meet the growing need for single storey, accessible properties.

The authority recognises three groups of people that often struggle to find a suitable home: single people in need of a one bedroom property; older people in need of level access accommodation; and households with a disabled family member.

The Council has started the first phase of constructing new bungalows which will be built over the next three years in various locations across the borough. There will be a combination of bungalows for those over 55 years and some larger bungalows for families with a disabled family member.

The bungalows are jointly funded by the Council and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and have been built by Wath-based O&P Construction. The firm is an appointed framework contractor for Yorbuild2.

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The first phase of building the bungalows begins over two sites in the borough; Catherine Avenue, Swallownest which will see the development of two, two bedroomed bungalows and two, one bedroomed properties. St Marys Drive, Catcliffe, will see the development of two, two bedroomed bungalows.

Stuart Oxley, managing director at O&P Construction, said: "We are proud at O&P Construction to be chosen as the main contractor to build these bungalows which are the first for a long time and hopefully the beginning of a new era of new council housing in the borough."

Rothbiz reported last month on the wider scheme put together by the Council after it was awarded £6.81m of grant funding through the HCA's Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme (SOAHP). Approved the Council's cabinet this week, it includes 113 homes planned for sites in Ravenfield, Treeton, Brampton Bierlow, Rawmarsh and Broom.

The authority also successfully secured £25,000 of Government funding towards the cost of remodelling some of its existing large three bedroom flats and adapting them to make smaller homes. At Grange Road in Swinton, three bedroomed flats have been converted to five one bedroom properties and one two bedroom property, all which are now let.

O&P Construction

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