North Essex Heritage - Jumbo Water Tower - Activity Planner, Community Engagement and Evaluation Procurement

Colchester's Balkerne Water Tower, affectionately known as 'Jumbo', is the largest Victorian municipal water tower in England. Completed in 1883, it is grade II* listed, and maintained its original use until 1984. It has local significance as a beacon of Colchester standing tall on the skyline, and national significance as the last remaining listed water tower still intact, a testament to the feat of Victorian engineering that brought a public water supply to the masses. Colchester and North East Essex Building Preservation Trust's (North Essex Heritage) mission is to save Jumbo from dereliction and see it removed from the Buildings At Risk register, producing a commercially viable operation that opens access to the public allowing all to appreciate the engineering marvel and superb views. It will bring the magnificent Balkerne Water Tower back into use, creatively converting it to provide a fully accessible heritage visitor attraction for the city, combined with complementary commercial uses to add to revenue to achieve financial sustainability for the long-term future. The project has been successful in securing Development funding from the Towns Deal and NLHF Heritage Enterprise scheme. This funding is to be used to prove the viability of the project, and provide confidence in the ability of the Trust and partners to deliver this project. North Essex Heritage is now seeking to separately appoint the following roles to support the development of the project: - an Activity Planner and Community Engagement officer to lead in the development of partnerships, engagement, and outreach to our community, being the on the ground person that will lead on developing projects throughout the life of the project for a 4 year period. Total value of commission is £80,000. - Evaluation consultant to establish the evaluation framework and monitor and measure the project against its objectives, for the life of the project, a 4 year period in total. Total value of commission is £35,000.