Bude beach huts

The project comprised the installation of new, and replacement of existing, beach huts at Crooklets and Summerleaze beaches at Bude in Cornwall.

The goals of the project were to increase the number of beach huts from 108 to 218, and to meet the financial requirements of the business case. The huts, which have no running water or electricity, are leased on an annual, weekly or daily basis.

Our role

Currie & Brown was selected to provide cost management, project management, site quality inspector and principal designer (CDM 2015) services. Our commission was later extended to include design services.

The client’s initial request was to engage a supplier to provide 218 new beach huts for Bude. We recommended a four-year framework agreement for the manufacture, supply and installation of the beach huts. This type of agreement enables the Cornwall Council and other organisations within the region to procure beach huts for installation at any location over a period of four years. This strategy will save design and procurement costs for other locations where the client intends to place new beach huts.

To ensure value for money and achieve the five-year payback period identified in the business case, we used value management techniques and challenged the council’s initial cost forecast and design proposals. We suggested alternative sites where less extensive groundworks were required and supported a change in specification of the huts.

Bude has had beach huts in some form since the early 1900s. The current incarnations dating from the late 1960s/1970s are very precious to the community. To ensure that all interested parties were involved in the project and had an input into the final designs and locations of the new huts, Currie & Brown supported a number of public consultation events and we were members of the ‘Bude Coastal Assets Steering Group’.