Former Mark House site, Strand Street, Whitehaven

The site occupies a prominent harbour-side location off Millennium Way and lies adjacent to Whitehaven town centre. It has expansive views out to the Irish Sea and forms a highly visible backdrop to the recently regenerated quayside when viewed from the sea approach. It represents one of the few remaining prominent harbour edge sites in the town.

The focus of the town over recent years has been on the renovation of the harbour with the impounding of the inner basins to create a large leisure and fishing harbour, providing a significant increase in the number of potential moorings within the marina. The harbour has also seen significant renovation due to millennium developments which has added to the potential of the harbours edge as a primary public / leisure destination.

We work closely with Whitehaven Harbour Commissioners and the local planning authority in the development of our land holdings in Whitehaven Town Centre and along the Harbour.

The site (area) represents 80% of the urban block defined by Millennium Way, Strand Street, Duke Street and New Lowther Street. Immediately to the south west are the rear walls of residential and commercial accommodation on New Lowther Street and to the east on the corner of Strand Street and Duke Street is the existing public house, the John Paul Jones which has also been acquired by BEC.

A Victorian former public baths building, together with a redundant three storey 1970’s office building (Mark House) and a former nightclub (The Park Nightspot) previously occupied the site. The site generally lies about 0.8M lower than the Millennium Promenade, but level with Strand Street. Duke Street ramps up from Strand Street to provide the main vehicle access to the central harbour area.