Robert Woodhead Ltd has won the prestigious fourth phase of the Lincoln Castle Revealed Project; the restoration of Lincoln Castle Prison.
Following a robust selection process, the construction company based in Nottinghamshire and operating throughout the East Midlands and Yorkshire, was selected by Lincolnshire County Council to undertake this latest project. Robert Woodhead Ltd’s specialist Heritage arm, Woodhead Heritage will be working with Architects, Arrol & Snell once again. This follows the successful completion of the Heritage Skills Centre and the on-going Castle Walls project being undertaken by the construction firm and architects.
The £5.45 million project, which is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Lincolnshire County Council, includes the refurbishment and restoration of the Georgian and Victorian Prison buildings, construction of a Subterranean pod to display Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, the creation of a cinema to screen films about Magna Carta as well as the creation of a new shop and café. There will also be new disabled access and external landscaping work. Artist impressions:
Lincoln Castle is the only place in the world where Magna Carta (1215) and the Charter of the Forest (1217) can be seen together. It will also be the only place to have a dedicated new building and exhibition to celebrate the 800th anniversary in 2015.
Simon Butler from Woodhead Heritage commented, “We are very pleased and excited to have won the fourth and latest project at Lincoln Castle as this type of project is very rare. The prison buildings are Grade II listed and will require careful conservation, at the same time, we want to ensure the final buildings offer a world class visitor experience. We will be working with Architects Arrol & Snell and Lincolnshire County Council to make this project a success for Lincolnshire. We are also aware that the Castle will remain open and will be ensuring minimal disruption for visitors.”
Mary Powell, Tourism Development Manager, Lincolnshire County Council confirmed, “We are excited to reach another phase in the development of Lincoln Castle and the Lincoln Castle Revealed Project. Work to date is of the highest standard, on time and on budget. Our original aim to ‘Reveal’ Lincoln Castle is exceeding all expectations as research is turning up new stories about the site, archaeology has found a previously unknown Saxon church and a rare stone sarcophagus and we are opening up parts of the site never accessible before. This final phase will be completed by the end of 2014. In the meantime the Castle remains open so that visitors can see the work in progress. Of course there will be plenty of events this year and in 2014, and even more celebrations planned for 2015.”