Independent family brewers Hall & Woodhouse, has announced its corporate sponsorship for prehistoric visitor attraction Jurassica, an ambitious project based in a disused quarry in Portland.
Following the Heritage Lottery decision not to award a development grant to Jurassica, Hall & Woodhouse has agreed to provide financial support to help fund the project.
Anthony Woodhouse, managing director of Hall and Woodhouse, said: “Jurassica is visionary. It will result in significant investment in Portland, create jobs, and be a major tourist destination. We are delighted to be able to support a project which will benefit not only Portland, but the whole of Dorset.”
It is estimated that Jurassica will cost £80m and will open 2021. The project has received substantial funding from Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership as part of the Strategic Economic Plan for jobs and growth and has already secured substantial financial backing from a number of Dorset businesses as well as partnerships with Bournemouth University and the Natural History Museum.
Michael Hanlon, the project’s chief executive and founder, is delighted with the support. He said: “Forget visions and scientific integrity, without cold, hard cash projects are no more than websites. We are hugely grateful for the ongoing support from Colonial Leisure Limited, owners of the Pennsylvania Castle estate on Portland. And now Hall & Woodhouse, a brilliant Dorset brewing firm, has announced that setbacks be-damned, we can count on their financial support in the months ahead, and we thank them for sharing our vision.”
He added: “We will be open by 2021. That is my promise, to Dorset, the UK and to the people of Weymouth and Portland. No one said this would be easy. It isn’t. But it is possible. And what is possible will, with a will, become a certainty.”