Venue & Destination Development Case Study
Tapwood Lake — From Underused Estate Asset to Specialist Diving Destination
How opportunity identification, commercial modelling and specialist introductions helped shape a new use for a former quarry lake.
Tapwood Lake is a former silica-sand quarry within the wider Buckland Park estate in Surrey. Its depth, clear water and distinctive environment created an unusual opportunity for specialist water-based recreation. The challenge was not simply whether diving could take place there. The more valuable question was how an underused estate asset could become a commercially viable, professionally managed destination while remaining aligned with the landowner, the environment and the wider operation. The work around Tapwood developed over several years and involved opportunity identification, specialist introductions, commercial scrutiny, operating-model development and direct discussion with Buckland Park management.
At a glance
- Location
- Tapwood Lake, Buckland Park, Surrey
- Project type
- Venue & Destination Development
- Role
- Opportunity identification, specialist introduction, commercial review, operational concept development, partnership modelling and landowner/operator alignment.
- Status
- Concept and development work subsequently progressed into an operational diving destination delivered by Buckland Park and specialist diving operators.
Focus areas
- Venue & destination development
- Estate & rural diversification
- Lake and watersports development
- Commercial modelling
- Operational planning
- Partner & operator development
- Water safety & operations
An opportunity identified early
Seeing the potential before the site was ready
The diving opportunity at Buckland Park was being explored well before Tapwood became available for commercial operation.
By 2022, Skip was working with established diving operator Oyster Diving around test diving activity at Buckland Park Lake. During those discussions, Tapwood was already being considered as a potential longer-term opportunity once the former quarry lake returned to the Estate's control and commercial development became possible.
This early work helped establish relationships, understand demand and begin testing how specialist diving activity might fit within the wider Buckland Park environment.
Bringing specialist expertise into the opportunity
The right specialist, not trying to become one
A central principle was that developing a diving destination did not require the existing outdoor operator to reinvent itself as a technical diving organisation. Specialist diving expertise already existed.
The SHAC introduced the Tapwood opportunity into its existing relationship with Oyster Diving and continued supporting discussions as the possibility of operating at Tapwood became more concrete.
By April 2025, Oyster had developed an initial Tapwood proposal and financial forecast and provided them directly to Skip for review and feedback.
The objective was to combine specialist diving expertise with existing knowledge of Buckland Park, the Estate's commercial requirements, local customer communities and operational systems.
Reviewing the commercial model
A good activity still needs the right operating model
The initial Oyster proposal followed a conventional diving-industry model based largely around per-head lake access fees. That created an important commercial question.
Buckland Park's established relationship with The SHAC operated differently, with the Estate participating directly in the commercial success generated on site. Skip therefore reviewed the proposed model not simply from the perspective of a dive operator, but from the perspective of the landowner and destination.
The review considered:
- How the Estate would participate in future growth
- Which revenue streams should contribute to the landowner relationship
- How bookings and commercial activity could remain transparent
- Whether the model provided sufficient flexibility as the site developed
- How other operators might eventually use the lake
- How existing customer communities could accelerate demand
- How the opportunity could create wider strategic value for Buckland Park
Developing a third way
From operator proposal to estate-led destination model
There was a genuine tension between established diving-industry practice and the commercial model already proven between The SHAC and Buckland Park. Rather than assuming either model was automatically correct, the next step was to explore another option.
Following discussion with Buckland Park management, Skip developed an alternative Tapwood Dive Centre proposition. The model proposed a collaborative approach between The SHAC and the Estate in which Tapwood could both deliver diving activity directly and operate as a resource used by approved external dive companies.
The concept included:
- A scalable estate revenue-share model
- Transparent bookings and commercial reporting
- External dive schools and specialist operators using Tapwood
- Development of an in-house capability over time
- Freediving as an early complementary opportunity
- Beginner experiences through to advanced diving activity
- Use of existing customer, school and corporate networks
- Proportionate infrastructure investment
- Reinvestment as demand grew
- Collaboration with existing site stakeholders
- A longer-term pathway through which the Estate could retain increasing control or ultimately take over the operation if appropriate
Thinking beyond diving
A destination rather than a single activity
The principle was simple: start intelligently, prove demand, learn from operation, reinvest where evidence supports it, and scale without losing control of the destination.
The proposition deliberately looked beyond simply selling diving sessions. Tapwood had the potential to support a carefully selected mix of activity, education and specialist training where those uses were compatible with the environment and with one another.
Potential complementary opportunities considered during the development work included:
- Recreational diving
- Dive training
- Visiting dive schools and clubs
- Freediving
- Outdoor and water-safety training
- Specialist coaching
- Education
- Cold-water activity
- Carefully managed additional water use
- Collaboration with established stakeholders such as the fishing community
The landowner perspective
What could this place become?
The objective was never maximum utilisation. It was to understand which uses strengthened the destination while protecting the characteristics that made Tapwood valuable in the first place.
Outdoor operators naturally think about activities. Landowners often have a different problem. They have a lake, woodland, quarry, estate building or other physical asset and need to understand what commercial use is realistic, what investment is justified and who should operate it.
Tapwood therefore required more than an activity programme. The work considered:
- Commercial return to the Estate
- Operational oversight
- Infrastructure requirements
- Customer access
- Capacity
- Safety systems
- Partner selection
- Stakeholder relationships
- Scalability
- Continuity
- And what should not be developed
What happened next
From proposition to operating destination
That wider perspective is central to SHACADEMY's approach to venue and destination development.
Following the development and commercial discussions, Buckland Park progressed Tapwood as a specialist diving destination with external diving operators.
Tapwood has subsequently launched publicly as an operational diving destination under the Surrey Hills Diving name, with Oyster Diving among the specialist operators offering access and diving activity at the lake.
The eventual commercial structure and day-to-day operation are those of Buckland Park and the organisations now delivering the activity. SHACADEMY does not claim to have delivered or to operate the current Dive Centre.
What this case study records is the earlier opportunity identification, the introduction and engagement of specialist diving expertise, commercial review, operating-model development and strategic thinking undertaken while the future use of Tapwood was being determined.
That distinction is important. Good consultancy does not require the consultant to become the eventual operator. Sometimes the most valuable contribution is identifying what an asset could become, testing the assumptions, bringing the right people into the conversation and helping create enough clarity for the opportunity to progress.
What this project demonstrates
What Tapwood demonstrates
Tapwood demonstrates SHACADEMY's ability to work at the intersection of landowner strategy, outdoor operations and commercial development. The work included the ability to:
- Recognise opportunity within an underused outdoor asset
- Maintain and use specialist industry relationships
- Bring relevant operators into an emerging opportunity
- Review third-party commercial proposals critically but constructively
- Represent landowner requirements alongside operator realities
- Challenge conventional industry models where appropriate
- Develop alternative commercial and operational structures
- Design phased rather than over-engineered development
- Incorporate transparency and governance into the operating model
- Think beyond a single activity towards destination value
- Understand when the right outcome may ultimately be delivered by somebody else
Related SHACADEMY services
How this experience supports our work
Where this work begins
Have an outdoor asset with unrealised potential?
A lake, woodland, estate, quarry or existing outdoor venue can often support more than its current use suggests.
The first question is not what activity can be sold there. It is: what could this place become — and what needs to be true for it to work?
SHACADEMY helps landowners, estates and outdoor organisations across Surrey and the wider UK explore that question before committing to the answer.