Sir Robert McAlpine Special Projects has been appointed to lead the \u00a36m restoration of Colchester\u2019s Grade II*-listed Balkerne Water Tower, known locally as Jumbo.<\/p>\n
The heritage division of the tier one contractor will oversee the transformation of the disused 1882 tower into a publicly accessible destination venue, with new visitor experience and interpretation spaces.<\/p>\n
Commissioned by North Essex Heritage, which secured a 150-year lease on the structure in 2021, the project has received funding from Colchester City Council, Historic England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and central government.<\/p>\n
Initial pre-construction work is expected to begin this month, with main construction scheduled for December 2025. The project will involve significant conservation work, including repair of the structure\u2019s original fabric built from 1.25 million bricks and 142 tonnes of cast iron.<\/p>\n
Architectural work is being led by Purcell, with heritage consultancy from Focus Consultants.<\/p>\n
Sir Robert McAlpine Special Projects operations director Mike Coleman said the team would apply its heritage expertise to retain the tower\u2019s character while updating it to modern accessibility and safety standards.<\/p>\n
Jason Lowe, project director at North Essex Heritage, said the partnership would ensure the building’s reuse was rooted in community benefit, while chair Simon Hall said the restored tower would serve as a national exemplar of historic conservation and adaptive reuse.<\/p>\n
The building has remained largely unused since its decommissioning in 1984.<\/p>\n
Source: Sir Robert McAlpine announcement<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sir Robert McAlpine Special Projects has been appointed to lead the \u00a36m restoration of Colchester\u2019s Grade II*-listed Balkerne Water Tower, known locally as Jumbo. The heritage division of the tier one contractor will oversee the transformation of the disused 1882 tower into a publicly accessible destination venue, with new visitor experience and interpretation spaces. Commissioned …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135716,"featured_media":524917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[549,558,542],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-524915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-civils","category-contracts","category-sir-robert-mcalpine"],"yoast_head":"\n