nenewaterfrontlarge The Nene Waterfront Regeneration project will regenerate a prominent waterside area of Wisbech including the large riverside brownfield site which has been underused and partly derelict for up to twenty years.

Fenland District Council secured some £10m in public funding from English Partnerships, East of England Development Agency, ERDF Objective 2, Cambridgeshire County Council and its own resources.

The project will introduce new residential and other uses, in addition to strengthening the progress already made in creating a leisure port and enhancing the tourist potential of Wisbech.

The regeneration of the area has the following objectives:

Remove unsightly derelict sites.
Provide a high-quality urban residential development with mixed tenure and affordable housing.
Support the growth of the leisure port.
Provide a waterside tourist attraction.
Improve pedestrian linkage with the town centre.
Provide boat building, servicing, training facilities and employment.
Improve the built environment and the public realm.

Although the proposed development of 300 plus new homes has been suspended because of the current economic recession and downturn in the housing market the core funders are totally committed to providing the Phase Two housing element of this prestigious regeneration project and they are spending £3.5 million on preparing the site for the upturn in global economic fortunes. Remediation works were completed in May 2009 and will be followed by the provision of appropriate infrastructure works supporting the future housing development.

Mark Wedge, Property Development Manager of Fenland DC commented on the comprehensive remediation works carried out by Cognition "It was a pleasure to work with the Cognition team. A remediation project of such size was a new experience for us. Cognition were very professional throughout. Importantly they were also open and helpful about there work and we were able to learn a great deal as a result"