£1.84 Million Scarborough West Pier Repairs Approved

North Yorkshire Council's Executive committee has given its approval to spending £1,840,000 for essential repair works to the inner West Pier in Scarborough.

This decision will allow the award of a second-stage construction contract to Neom Engineering Limited to proceed.

The project is a continuation of a legacy harbour initiative inherited from the former Scarborough Borough Council. The West Pier serves as a vital hub for Scarborough's fishing industry, where catches are landed and vessels are moored. The pier, originally constructed with steel sheet piling in the late 1980s, has suffered from corrosion, including thickness loss and holes, due to the harsh saltwater environment. A particular concern is Accelerated Low Water Corrosion (ALWC), a form of microbiologically-induced corrosion that significantly hastens the deterioration of steel piles and reduces the structure's lifespan.

Councillor Mark Crane highlighted the critical nature of these repairs.

"One of the positive things that we've inherited from Scarborough Borough Council are our harbours, we are supporting Scarborough and it's very important West Pier Harbour from which the fishing in Scarborough takes place, as well as having a car park etcetera.

 Frankly, if we don't do this, then we face a problem with the harbour and how long it would withstand the pressure of the water.

But if we do this improvement to the harbour at a cost of 1.8 million pounds, I recognize a very significant cost, but if we do that, we believe the sheeting under the harbour will last for another 10 years. So a significant period of time."

The proposed repair involves welding sheet steel plates to the piles, followed by a cathodic protection system below water and a protective paint coating above water. These works are expected to extend the serviceable life of the piles by another 10 years.

According to the Assistant Director – Regulation and Harbours' report, leaving these defects untreated would reduce the structure’s capacity to support loading, including the weight of the land it retains and activities on the pier, making repair essential to maintain safe and continuous harbour operations.

The council believes that proceeding with the strengthening works "ensures continued safe operation of the harbour and will extend the life of critical infrastructure serving Scarborough’s fishing industry". It also "underpins the viability of regeneration ambitions," with a failure to repair potentially jeopardising "the long-term deliverability and investment potential of the wider regeneration scheme".

Neom Engineering Limited was initially employed through a two-stage design and build procurement process in October 2023. The first stage involved detailed design, investigations, and seeking consents. The second stage, now approved, is the construction phase. The council's report confirmed that the costs proposed by Neom were competitively tendered and subject to an independent audit to ensure best value.

The total capital budget of £1,840,000 includes £1,279,000 for construction, £15,000 for internal staffing costs, and a contingency of £546,000.

Councillor Crane acknowledged the cost and the risk the council is taking on, but feels that without the council takign on the risk the work wouldn't be able to proceed.

"We are working with a particular company on doing this. We carry some risk with the contracts, so I want us to be absolutely clear about that.

However, if we didn't have the risk carried by this council to some extent, then I suspect no company would be willing to bid, and therefore the walls would not be protected.

1.8 million is significant, a very significant sum of money. And I want to remind the residents of Scarborough, how much we support them, and how much money we've spent in that area recently, another 1.8 million here.

But it's the, to the benefit of Scarborough to the people who work there and to the people who go there. It's a wonderful pier, but it really needs this work doing"

Alternative options were considered, including replacing the piles with new ones, but this was rejected on cost grounds as the structure was still repairable. Re-procuring the works through a new tender was also rejected due to significant potential issues, including the loss of benefits from Neom's first-stage work, the transfer of design risk to the Council, and substantial delays that could push the works into 2026. The report concludes that awarding the contract to Neom Engineering Limited "represents best value, continuity, and the least risk to project delivery".

Consultation for the project included the Marine Management Organisation, which has issued a licence for the works, and the Local Planning Authority. While planning permission is not required, Listed Building consent is due to the Grade II listed status of the Pier, and an application has been submitted. The Harbour Master, Scarborough Harbour Operations Manager, and the Scarborough Harbour User Group have also been regularly updated and agreed to the proposed approach.