The council has agreed to appoint the firm under a pre-construction services agreement ahead of construction starting in October with a view to completing the project by spring 2019.

McLaughlin & Harvey was reported to have had the most attractive bid over rivals Eric Wright, Gilbert Ash, Esh and Willmott Dixon.

Architect Bisset Adams designed the £25m landmark conference centre, which attracted central Government funding.

The complex will have a double height entrance foyer, with exhibition space on the ground floor and conferencing facilities above

The new venue will house a conference hall for 2,000 delegates and a 130,000 sq ft exhibition hall with break-out spaces and catering facilities.

The new building will be directly linked to both the Empress Ballroom and the Opera House to form a flexible venue with joint capacities of up to seven thousand.

While it is unlikely all the spaces will be in use at any one time for conferencing, this flexibility puts Blackpool squarely back in the major league conference market.

The client team includes Max Fordham as M&E consultants and, Morgan Tucker as structural engineering specialists