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Weston-super-Mare's £39m Pier is Opened 3 years after fire
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by liamssoft | July 25, 2011 at 10:51 pm
249 views | 15 Recommendations | 5 comments
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26th July 2011
Today the new £39million restoration of the Weston-super-Mare Grand Pier was officially opened by the Princess Royal Princess Anne, who unveiled a plaque to commemorate the Pier's resurrection from the ashes. The new Pier has a capacity of 6,700 people and is expected to attract 4 million visitors a year. The Pier has everything from Traditional Seaside Entertainment, dodgems and Carousels to a State of the art Roller coaster.
The Pier's biggest ride is a 1,000ft Go-kart track split over two levels, a 4-D cinema, a Crystal Maze and a three-storey Helter Skelter.
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at 23:55 on July 25th, 2011
£39MILLION!!! I would just like to know where the money came from -- all very well to preserve heritage buildings but do they really think that Weston Super will ever recoup that money? Tourism is waaay down - taxpayers must have footed that bill. Why can't they come up with a plan to cover ongoing renovation costs for something like this in a sustainable way and in partnership with businesses located in the area that are benefitting from the pier's renovation. I think that would be a lot fairer ...
at 01:33 on July 26th, 2011
I think the government and Western-Super-Mare council are relying on global warming and a shift in weather patterns from the usual overcast rain to a more sunny Spanish climate to bring in the crowds to what is a brilliant holiday destination bar the weather.. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this comes about but I can't see it happening any time soon.
at 02:40 on July 26th, 2011
22nd October 2008
Pier owners cancelled fire alert scheme a month before blaze
A report into how the fire on July 28th 2008 was started was released today and revealed that a fire alarm signal was transmitted to a private monitoring company from Weston-super-Mare's Grand Pier at 1.35am, but a call wasn't received by Avon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service until 6.45pm. It was found that a contract with System 2 Security, based in Weston-super-Mare, to send a person to the pier to check the building and call 999 was cancelled in June.2008. Instead at the time of the fire an alarm monitoring company, Yeoman Monitoring Services, in Essex, called a key-holder to alert them to the fire, but was unable to reach them.
A spokesman from System 2 Security, who were also responsible for the pier's intruder alarm system, said: 'The old owners had a monitoring contract with us to provide a physical response to an alarm and when the new owners took over they cancelled all that.
'They then took over responsibility of doing it themselves and all calls were directed to one person's mobile.'
An investigation is still on-going by the pier's owners Kerry and Michelle Michael and the insurance company as to why a 999 call was not made following the initial alarm signal.
The Daily Mail
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22nd April 2011
Owners of torched Weston-super-Mare pier sue alarm firms for £39m accusing them of letting fire alarms go off for five hours before dialling 999.
Kerry and Michelle Michael said the alert was first raised at 1.35am as the blaze took hold, but it was only at 6.45am the fire service was called. They claim Yeoman Monitoring Services Ltd remotely suspended the alarm at the Grand Pier multiple times – for up to four hours at a time.
Papers filed to Bristol mercantile court claimed local firm System 2 Security, which is said to have paid Yeoman to monitor the alarms, was responsible. The papers also said that “any triggering of a fire alarm cannot be ignored”.
But Essex-based Yeoman said it called when the alarm first went off and tried to contact keyholders to attend. System 2 Security also denied wrongdoing. The case continues.
The Daily Mirror
at 00:17 on July 26th, 2011
Perhaps it's just me being cynical (or realistic) but the new owners paid a load of money to have it refurbished, then you get the downturn of trade and still have 100 staff. To me, an insurance job would seem the obvious choice.
The area that they are currently building the 2012 stadium used to be a massive industrial estate. In the 6 years I have worked in that area there was 1 major fire that destroyed the building. When they announced that the stadium would be built there, no fires. When the land buyback was announced and the payout turned out to be really bad, there were suddenly 3 or 4 places burning down every week. 40 or so places in total burned in separate fires.
at 00:28 on July 26th, 2011
Yes I think you are just being cynical