Written evidence submitted by the Architectural Heritage Fund [SHS 007]
Introduction
Since 1976, the Architectural Heritage Fund has worked with and alongside charities, community groups and social enterprises to not only preserve buildings at risk and heritage assets but to support communities to find new uses for them. The organisations we support range from heritage-specialist building preservation trusts to volunteer-run community groups and start-up social enterprises, to regional and national charities delivering a range of services through historic buildings.
Over the past 40+ years we have funded numerous high street regeneration projects, helping high streets evolve but without them losing their identity or buildings of historic value. This has included the repair and conservation of traditional retail units but also the addition of complimentary uses such as housing and holiday accommodation.
This experience and track record led in 2019 to the launch of the Transforming Places through Heritage programme, which forms part of the wider government initiative to revitalise England’s high streets; it partners closely with Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zones as well as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Future High Streets and Towns Fund programmes. Through Transforming Places, we have supported a number of diverse high street and town centre regeneration projects, including notable ones in Southend-on-Sea (conversion of the Havens Department Store into an older people’s hub), Stretford (restoration of Stretford Public Hall for ongoing use as a community centre), Sunderland (conservation and adaptation of the dilapidated former Binns department store 170-175 High Street West into a music and arts venue) and Luton (development of former Hat Factory as co-working spaces for creative industries).
Our experience and that of the projects we have helped deliver has demonstrated:
High streets after COVID-19
High streets and town centres sit at the heart of the communities that they serve and the impact of their loss goes beyond their economic contribution (though that is considerable, collectively amounting to billions of pounds each year). These spaces and places are one of the few locations where communities, of all ages and backgrounds, congregate and engage with each other. They are where civil society, formal and informal, is constantly refreshed and reforged.
Across England, there are hundreds of historic buildings presently unused or underused within town centres, many of which are listed and on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. There are many retail buildings that contribute to the overall character of a high street and town centre that are at risk or closed due to the changes in shopping patterns that have accelerated over recent years – changes that have sped up with the onset of COVID-19. Through sympathetic restoration and adaptation, working in partnership with charities, social enterprises and community businesses, alongside local communities, these buildings can be converted to provide high-quality, town centre space that serve 21st-century needs, improves streetscapes, encourages footfall, supports environmental sustainability and animates the identity of a town.
It is often market failure that prevents the private sector from realising these benefits – caused by the need for specialist skills to deliver these projects successfully, as well as the ‘conservation deficit’ that means capital investment will not be readily recouped. A blended mix of public, philanthropic and social investment in historic buildings has the potential to transform localities and breath life back into the high street.
Charities and social enterprises have a key role to play in revitalising places abandoned by commercial retail, and are keen partners in the adaptation and reuse of historic buildings. These organisations understand what services are needed locally, and properly supported their fresh thinking and community focus can generate radical ideas for regenerating historic buildings: decaying department stores revamped as one-stop providers of services for an ageing population; derelict terraces reborn as art shops and music spaces; empty libraries transformed into workspaces for the twenty-first century. These ideas will be even more essential in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis: leaders seeking to capitalise on the trend for local working will need to invest to ensure town centres are sites of social connection as well as trade. Charities and social enterprises will be key partners in achieving this vision. We are also seeing greater resilience in the community business sector in response to the pandemic, with only 1% of community businesses shutting their doors for good as a result of Covid-19 and 89% adapting their operations to remain open (Power to Change Community Business Market Survey 2020).
Recommendations
We believe the following recommendations will help deliver more sustainable and prosperous town centres and high streets:
1) Sustaining and increasing funding to help communities purchase, develop and sustain assets on high streets and in town centres. Proposals for the Community Ownership Fund should be advanced as soon as possible and a supporting communities to take ownership of heritage assets and those within town centres and on high streets should be a priority. The funding mix should include a blend of project development, capital and revenue funding and be developed in consultation with specialist partners such as the Architectural Heritage Fund, Historic England, Power to Change and Social Investment Business.
2) As well as increasing investment in both revenue and capital funding, new programmes should also support the development of new organisational and ownership models within town centres and high streets. This should include plans to advance community ownership. Our Heritage Development Trust pilot programme, launched in 2019, aims to prove the value of new ownership and delivery models: we are providing three years of revenue funding to four organisations that specialise in conserving and adapting historic buildings for community use, often in partnership with local charities that wish to utilise a historic building but lack the skills needed to undertake a complex restoration project. The programme’s aim is to enable each Heritage Development Trust to expand its activities and portfolio of properties to the point of sustainability. Once secure, the Heritage Development Trusts will continue to work within town and city centres, bringing their skillsets to diverse projects that aim to provide community services – from housing to tourism, arts and co-working spaces – and to lead in area regeneration schemes as a critical partner in successfully restoring historic buildings.
3) Introducing ‘Community Right to Buy’ laws to ensure unused and neglected properties were able to be bought by community trusts or local authorities. The problem of empty shops could also be tackled by giving local authorities power to auction rental agreements, thus incentivising landlords to keep premises occupied, even at lower rental prices. The Green Book appraisal should be reformed so it has a broader focus and places an emphasis on the delivery of social infrastructure. Additional specialist programmes might also be considered: as part of Transforming Places through Heritage, for example, we have partnered with Co-ops UK to support their Community Shares Booster programme, through set-up grants and equity investment; the programme’s aim is to support disadvantaged and under-represented communities to develop sustainable community businesses inside historic buildings, thus simultaneously providing services, empowering communities and safeguarding heritage assets.
4) Deliver sensible and well-considered planning reform, which provides localised decision-making on how sensitively to adapt historic buildings for community needs, diversifying high streets and avoiding ‘dead zones’ of former retail spaces lying empty. These reforms, however, must avoid undermining the historic character of buildings as well as the transformation of town centres into pure residential areas that are unwelcoming to the community in its broadest sense. A mixed-use approach, with housing offered above retail/community/workspaces will provide the optimum balance of people living, working, enjoying hospitality and visiting unique towns across England.
Recent case studies
Liskeard Library
The Real Ideas Organisation (RIO) are leading a £750,000 project in Liskeard, Cornwall, to revitalise a beautiful grade II-listed library in the town centre. Once completed, the space will be fully accessible, a multi-purpose facility that puts community need at its heart. Central to the vision is providing a library and learning space suited to the 21st century, as well as meeting and co-working spaces for creative businesses and social entrepreneurs, and events and cultural spaces that will drive footfall and maximise use of the building throughout the day.
Built in 1896, the Flemish Renaissance building was originally financed in part through community subscriptions, and the library has remained an important community resource ever since. Now RIO is leading on reimagining this town-centre institution so as to broaden its use. The reimagination will be focusing on delivering a sustainable, accessible and inclusive gateway to learning and experiencing all that Liskeard can offer.
In 2018, RIO was awarded project development funding to support the development of architects’ plans, which were drawn up by a local team experienced in conserving historic properties. The planned reconfiguration and thoughtful opening up of internal spaces and strong community engagement helped secure the Library a first-round Transformational Capital Grant in 2019, and a follow-on Grant Increase in March 2020, together amounting to £150,000 towards capital redevelopment costs.
21 High Street, Wooler
Since 1863, the handsome classical façade originally built for Alnwick and County Bank rooted the High Street of the small market town of Wooler, Northumberland, serving the community’s banking needs until finally closing in 2018. The following year, the grade II-listed building was purchased by Glendale Gateway Trust, a local community organisation established to improve the lives of local residents in and around Wooler.
With nearly twenty-five years’ experience managing a co-working and community hire space redeveloped from a former Victorian workhhouse, the Trust has also built a portfolio of 18 affordable housing properties available to the local community; many of these are adapted from historic properties. Their vision for the former bank building will create new commercial space on the ground floor, as well as two additional affordable homes on the upper floors, a local need highlighted in Wooler’s Neighbourhood Plan.
Following a successful Community Bond fundraising drive, the Trust was awarded a Crowdfunding Challenge Grant in 2019 under Transforming Places through Heritage. This grant completed the funding package needed to conserve and adapt the building, which will soon welcome its first residents.
Loaves N’ Fishes, Dudley
The Art-Deco former department store now known as Provision House on the High Street in Dudley was first opened in 1939. For decades, the building served the Dudley community as a co-operative emporium - a store dedicated to providing its customer-owners with quality goods at the lowest prices possible. But much of the floor space at locally listed Provision House fell out of use following the closure of the co-operative in 1983. In 2019, Dudley based charity Loaves N’ Fishes took over use of the ground floor with plans to bring the upper floors back into use.
Loaves N’ Fishes was established in 2014 to support the relief of poverty and its effects for the communities of Dudley, Sandwell, and the wider Black Country by providing furniture, clothing, a food bank service, and a volunteer training programme. By expanding their occupancy of Provision House, Loaves N’ Fishes plan to build a hub for local organisations similarly committed to improving the lives of Dudley area residents, including a community café, co-working and art spaces.
The charity was awarded a Project Viability Grant in March 2020 under Transforming Places through Heritage to consider the opportunities and constraints of expanding their presence at Provision House and which options will best serve the needs and priorities of the Dudley community.