THE handover of the first phase of Blackburn’s £33million Cathedral Quarter is on target for the end of September next year.

The manager of the scheme for main contractors Eric Wright Construction, Steve Rawlinson, revealed that September 28 or 29 were now pencilled in for the official ceremony.

He said so far key dates had been met and the steelwork for the 60-bed Premier Inn hotel and the first office block had been completed.

The Lancashire Telegraph’s exclusive pictures from the top of the recently-roofed hotel shows the sheer scale of the development.

Lancashire Telegraph:

The scheme includes a Covent Garden-style ‘festival square’ or ‘piazza’ in the new public gardens to host fun events.

It includes an office block, hotel, restaurant and church buildings complex to transform the town’s heart with a mix of old and new.

A key element is the first clergy court and cloister garden for almost 600 years in England, which will provide an oasis of peace in the midst of a new business and tourist quarter, built by contractor John Murphy.

Mr Rawlinson said: “The steel frame for the Clergy Court will start to rise early in the New Year.

“In February the roof will go on the office block and the the covering on its sides and on the hotel will start to appear.

“This is when people will really start to see the shape of the new development.

“When the glass, being produced in Blackburn by SG Aluminium of Shadsworth, starts go on the two buildings at the end of February it will start to look fantastic.

“We hope to hand the hotel and office block over at the end of September for them to be fitted out inside.

“We are so far on track for a hand-over on September 28 to 29 which will be a great day but there is a lot to happen in between.”

In related projects, a new £5million bus station on the old market site will open, slightly later than originally planned, by March.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Blackburn with Darwen Council project development manager Clare Turner now hopes that phase one of Cathedral Quarter with one office block, hotel, clergy quarters and cloister garden will be fully open and operational by its December target date.

She said: “It is really exciting and on schedule. to be ready for the end of next year.”

The second phase of Cathedral Quarter with another office block is scheduled to be completed by December 2016.

The eventual aim of the transformation of the 17- hectare site is set to create a special meeting place and gateway to the town.

It is set to introduce new leisure and tourism uses into Blackburn to enhance the “night time” economy.