THE demolition of an old boathouse to make way for a new £2.5 million structure fronting the river Severn in Worcester is due to start next month.

There has been a slight delay in getting the King’s School Worcester boathouse project off the ground, due to a “complex tendering process”.

While that is still under way, Worcestershire County Council has already issued a public notice informing people that a part of Severn Street from its junction with Kleve Walk will be closed off for about 25 metres so construction work can take place.

The order will stay in place for six months.

However, King’s School Worcester bursar Galen Bartholomew said they were “not quite there yet” and said he thought the work would take longer than six months.

He said: “The contract is currently out to tender and we have set them a start date sometime in November.

“I think it’s a very exciting project and hopefully it is really going to be something to benefit Worcester and not just the school.”

Mr Bartholomew said that he hoped the project would be completed a year on from the starting point but that a lot would depend on how much flooding there was during that time.

We previously reported in your Worcester News that King’s wants to demolish the existing 1960s boathouse – a single-storey grey/blue brick building with timber doors – and replace it with a bigger, more modern building which will be open to the public.

The new boathouse, which looks like a boat from above with a glazed ‘prow’ that projects over the riverside walkway, will provide a focal point along the regenerated riverside.

It will have secure accommodation for all of the school’s 46 boats, as well as a fitness room, changing rooms, a kitchen, an office/workshop, storage and 12 parking spaces. The ground floor boat storage area will be allowed to flood, in line with Environment Agency guidance.

The building will feature environmentally friendly technologies such as solar panels, rainwater harvesting and a wood pellet boiler.

The money for the project has been donated by former King’s pupil Michael Baker, who also donated £1 million to the school’s bursary scheme.