A Birmingham legal team has completed work on a £100 million project to upgrade Blackpool’s Victorian tramway system that includes the construction of a landmark depot to house new trams.

DLA Piper’s engineering and construction team in Birmingham, led by partner Robert Norris and supported by associate Ray O'Connor and solicitor Alex Johnson, recently completed work on the project for Blackpool Borough Council.

The team is part of DLA Piper's national Engineering and Construction business. Previous tram projects include Merseytram and Nottingham Tram.

The Birmingham lawyers put in place contracts for the renewal and upgrade of the existing tram track and for the construction of the new depot to house 16 new low floor trams.

Meanwhile, DLA Piper's Finance and Projects team, led by partner Alex Guy and supported by associate Kim Broadbent in Leeds, advised Blackpool Borough Council on the procurement of the new trams.

Robert Norris said: “Despite being a technically very complex project with interfaces between all three elements of the project – the trams, the track and the depot – the project was completed in less than 14 months.

“The Blackpool tramway has been in existence for over 120 years and is currently an 18km route running from Starr Gate in the south to Fleetwood Ferry in the north.

“It was a prestigious and challenging project for us and a job very well done. We were able to support the local authority in Blackpool with our considerable specialist legal expertise to make sure everything was completed well within the tight procurement timeframe.”

Councillor Maxine Callow, Blackpool Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Tourism and Regeneration, said: “The regeneration is not a small task and so we rely on watertight agreements with all our contractors to ensure we stay on track.

“The tramway development is a fundamental project to the overall Master Plan and so we are pleased that DLA Piper has made things run so smoothly.”

The upgrade, funded jointly by the Department for Transport, Blackpool Council and Lancashire County Council, involves the design and renewal of approximately 8.1km of track and includes works to highway junctions and tram stops. The new depot will house the new trams, and is anticipated to be a landmark design at an important gateway to the town.

Both the track and depot works are expected to be completed in 2012. The construction contracts were signed last month.

The Master Plan will transform the town with a programme to rebuild the seafront, provide new tram infrastructure, release key town centre and seafront sites for development, win the UK’s only regional casino licence and forge partnerships with developers and investors.

Last month the Government gave its approval in principle to the £125 million extensions to the Metro system in Birmingham and the Black Country, proposed by Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority.

Now Centro will put forward a business case to the Department of Transport for the project and if approved work will start before 2014.