Midlands & East Anglia

Mansfield bus station on schedule

An £11.6 million scheme to provide Mansfield with a brand new bus station is nearing completion.

Mansfield bus station will open its doors for the first time on March 31st 2012 and promises to provide passengers with 21st Century travel. The station replaces a former facility off Rosemary Street which was built in 1977 and had started to show signs of its age.

The project is being led by Nottinghamshire County Council and Mansfield District Council, with Kier Construction on board as the main contractor and Nottingham County Council providing all architectural services.

Situated in the heart of the town, the new station is located just 180 meters from the town’s market place and will be used by more than five million passengers per year. The station is the busiest bus station in the county and once complete will clock up more than 5,000 bus journeys each week.

Ministers gave the green light for the scheme in February 2011 when they announced the Department for Transport (TfL) would be contributing funding for the station’s construction. The Government is providing £7.2 million of funding for the project, whilst the remaining funds are being provided by Nottinghamshire County Council, Mansfield District Council and the East Midlands Development Agency’s Single Programme budget.

The new station is fully enclosed, offering passengers a comfortable waiting area, with retail units, toilets and a baby changing area. The fully glazed building features a fully-staffed travel information office – in addition to electronic timetable information – as well as a state-of-the-art video wall which provides passengers with local information.

The site also boasts a CCTV system which is linked to the town centre network and automatic doors which separate waiting passengers from approaching and departing buses.

Mansfield bus station is much closer to Mansfield railway station that the former facility and is linked with a new footbridge, creating an important transport hub for the town.

In October 2012, Nottinghamshire County Council buried a time capsule to commemorate the construction of the new station. The sealed metal capsule contained a specially commissioned photograph featuring many local residents, as well as documents containing their experiences of life in the town.

Schools, hospitals, the emergency services, Mansfield Town FC, Mansfield Palace Theatre and many more companies were all asked to take part in the ceremony.

Commenting on the historic event, Jan Pauley of Nottinghamshire County Council, said:

“We wanted to make the capsule a unique snapshot of life in Mansfield. We thought the best way to do that would be to ask Mansfield people to record their thoughts and experiences. The hospital recorded all the events that took place within its walls on that day. Similarly the police and fire and rescue submitted their call-outs, while schools included project work they had done on the Olympics and the Jubilee.

“It will give anyone digging up the capsule a real taste of what life will have been like for Mansfield on one single day back in 2012.”

Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Transport and Highways Committee, Councillor Richard Jackson, added:

“This was a great opportunity for the people of Mansfield to be a part of history. What a fascinating legacy to leave for future generations to rediscover.”

With the new bus station almost complete there are plans now to redevelop the Stockwell Gate North area of Mansfield, which includes the former bus station and an old Tesco store. The redevelopment is part of an overall scheme to regenerate the town.

 Linsco Limited

Linsco Limited specialise in providing temporary and permanent recruitment solutions for the construction industry. The company has over 35 years experience and in this time has provided staff for many leading contractors, including the Kier Group, Vinci Plc, Bowmer & Kirkland and Nottingham Trent University.

For the Mansfield Bus Station project, Linsco Limited provided a multitude of tradespeople, including labourers, drivers, forklift drivers, site managers, engineers and joiners.

Linsco Limited Managing Director, Matt McGregor, said:

“At Linsco Limited we pride ourselves on the level of service that we provide. We have a great work reputation and we continue to take this forward with each job. We are proud of our client portfolio, so we always strive to provide the correct people for the correct job, which ensures we maintain repeat business.”

For more information about Linsco Limited please visit: www.linsco.com.

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