Ground Breaking Ceremony at The Merricks Resort

On the 29th September 2010 senior managers from The Developer were joined by 120 people from Barbados for the Groundbreaking Ceremony for The Merricks Resort on the site of the future resort at Merricks in the parish of St Philip on the east coast. The ground was blessed by local minister, The Reverend Maxwell, and then the developer and Pat Cash dug the turf together to mark this momentous occasion for The Developer. The assembled guests were addressed by the Chairman of The Developer, Joerg Roterberg, Vice President of Operations for The Developer, and Glen Beache, Minister of Tourism for St Vincent & The Grenadines, who praised The developer for the successful opening of Buccament Bay Resort in St Vincent and its contribution to the St Vincent economy in terms of the employment of local people both during construction and ongoing for the operation of Buccament Bay Resort. In conclusion Pat Cash told how proud he is to be working with The Developer and how impressed he is with Buccament Bay Resort – he had just spent 4 days staying at the resort.

Amongst the guests at the ceremony were leading figures from the local business community including Sir Charles Williams and Bernie Weatherhead, members of the Town & Country Development Planning Office and Coastal Zone Management Unit. Several tour operators sent their local representatives to the ceremony – St James Travel, Carrier Island, Virgin Holidays, ITC Classics, TUI, Trail Finders, Caribbean Hotels Online. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) was represented by Johnson JohnRose and the former minister of Tourism for Barbados, Noel Lynch, also attended. Members of the press attended including CBC Barbados, The Barbados Advocate and The Nation and coverage can be seen on the following page.

The resort will be situated on a stunning piece of cliff top land and it has been designed to take advantage of the spectacular vistas across the Atlantic Ocean and the rolling landscape by architect Sergio Escarfullery and his team. It will offer world class facilities including an Alaia Spa, Pat Cash Tennis Academy, Liverpool Football Club Soccer School, Fitness Centre, several bars and restaurants including Trader Vic’s and a shopping pavilion. The Chairman of the developer stated: "The Merricks Resort is a multimillion dollar project which will be  completed over three phases.

We aim to have up to 1,000 construction workers on site who will be recruited locally as we did in St Vincent for the construction of Buccament Bay Resort. Once fully opened, the resort will employ over 1,000 staff, again recruited locally, to operate the hotel under the management of an international hotel management team."

David Campion, Development Director for Developments, explained that a world class team is being created to deliver The Merricks Resort. Local Bajan Architect, Kevin Harrison, has been hired to project lead the development for the developer and he is engaging fellow industry experts including local and international consultants such as Adams Consulting International, BCQS, Talma Mill Studios, Baird, Richard Gill Associates Ltd as well as local contractors and suppliers to deliver this resort. Work on the site will commence at the beginning of October 2010 with the construction of several furnished show villas set within landscaped gardens adjacent to a lagoon and nature trail to give a taste of the quality and style that the developer will be delivering at The Merricks Resort. The first phase of construction for the resort will start following completion of the planning condition response process. Adams Consulting International is currently working with the developer to meet the points raised by the planners during this final stage and we hope to have these resolved during the next few weeks. The largest issue is the limited water supply in St Philip and the developer is working with the Government and local authorities to find a solution to increase the supply to not only support The Merricks Resort but also to improve the situation for the local people of St Philip.

The developer has already shown its commitment to communicating directly with its neighbours at Merricks to keep them up to date with development progress and to respond to any queries they may have. A number of neighbours attended the ceremony and Diana Robertson from Atlantic Rising sent the following e-mail after the event: “Thank you from the residents of Atlantic Rising, for taking the time to discuss our concerns regarding the Merricks development. Also for your generous hospitality.” Everyone at the developer is delighted by the attendance and positive response to this event and will report on the progress of the construction over the next months.