WYG, an award-winning global technical organization operating from more than fifty locations across the UK, Europe, Africa and Asia, is assisting the Government of Anguilla with plans to provide a new passenger terminal at Blowing Point within the shortest possible time.
The firm has been contracted through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London – and two of its consultants have already held discussions with officials of the Governor’s Office, the Government, the Anguilla Air and Sea Ports Authority, the Tourist Board, the Hotel and Tourism Association, Hoteliers and representatives of the Taxi Association. The visiting WYG consultants were Cara Buchan, Principal-Architect, and Jamie Morris, Associate-Architect. They met with the various stakeholders at the Tourist Board’s Conference Room on Friday, November 2.
The new passenger terminal is a long-running proposed port development project. It is now a priority project hastened by Hurricane Irma which substantially destroyed the terminal building in September 2017 leading to its demolition and the use of tent facilities for departing and arriving passengers. That unsatisfactory, but nevertheless functioning, situation is about to change shortly, although temporarily, by the use and conversion of the ‘Big Jim Building’ immediately north of the port.
It is envisioned that the new terminal, funded by the UK Government, should be completed and commissioned within eighteen months. But both the Government of Anguilla and Hoteliers are anxious for its completion at the seaport which accounts for 92% of arrivals in Anguilla through St. Martin/St. Maarten. It is this time factor of eighteen months or sooner, if possible, that the UK-headquartered WYG Group is working towards – and has undertaken to produce a concept design.
While the architects will be designing an ultra modern passenger facility, much emphasis is being placed on having the building resemble Anguillian and Caribbean architecture as much as possible. With no other design to follow, the meeting between WYG and the various other parties examined a former design proposed by the Jacobs Engineering Group under an earlier project arrangement in 2008 – which was eventually set aside by the Government of Anguilla.
Speaking on behalf of the Air and Sea Ports Authority, Mr. Julian Daniel, the UK-appointed Technical Advisor at the Department of Infrastructure, said the new design would take into consideration the good elements of the Jacobs’ plan. Among the changes to that plan is, rather than being built on the water’s edge on piles, the new building will be set back with its first floor on the ground – now that the Government will be acquiring more land to the north.
Mr. Darren Forbes-Batey, who heads the UK Programme in the Governor’s Office, told The Anguillian newspaper that while the ‘Big Jim Building’ would be used as a temporary passenger terminal, everything was being done to have the new permanent structure built and in operation. “We are trying to get it through as quickly as possible and picking up from the comments of the hoteliers, they want the new building within the next eighteen months. That’s the plan and to get the money as soon as possible,” Mr. Forbes-Batey stated. He added that the WYG consultants would attach a cost to their design which would be reflected in the UK Programme budget for the project.
Meanwhile, Mr. Cardigan Connor, Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, spoke to The Anguillian about the project: “The majority of our arrivals in Anguilla at this point in time – 92 % – come through Blowing Point, so we want to make a positive first impression once our visitors land on Anguilla’s soil,” he said. “In the meantime for this season, and may be part of the next season, we will have to operate out of the ‘Big Jim Building’.
“What will be a key factor in all of this is the service that will be offered by Customs, Immigration, AASPA, and of course the host. So I believe that even though we are waiting on the new building we will have a service that our guests will overly be impressed with – and that as we go forward, when the new building is completed, we will have a standard of the highest quality.”
