Roger
& Dinah Graffy asked De Facto to help them obtain grant funding to meet the
‘gap’ in their investment plans between cost and potential return. We approached English Partnerships to discuss
the scheme, and established that there was a possibility of securing funding
from its Partnership Investment Programme – PIP. In order to justify the case for funding, we
had to prove the demand for the marina, and that the scheme would benefit the
local economy. In order to achieve this we did the following:
* Carried out bespoke market research to establish
the demand for new marina and lay-up berths
* Surveyed all the businesses at the harbour in
order to establish the job creation potential of the scheme
* Set out the overall socio-economic benefits of
the scheme
* Liaised with other
members of the Graffys' project team to assess the costs and funding gap
The result of our
involvement was an award of £0.8 million
funding from the Partnership Investment Programme, which enabled the
Graffys to continue with their ‘dream scheme’ and turn the yacht harbour into a
thriving marina supported by numerous successful businesses. Planning permissions were also secured, and
the work at the harbour was completed in 2005. A further programme of
investment has subsequently been carried out between 2005 and 2010.
Roger Graffy said of our involvement:
‘Without De Facto we are sure that the project would
have died, over 100 jobs would not have been safeguarded and our chance to
create jobs would not exist. Our
experience of De Facto has been of a company with clear vision, professional
presentation and the all-important contacts to put our project on track’.
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