South West Restoring England's Heritage

I'm Tom Holland, a historian and I have always had a passion for

bringing the past back to life. In a way this bears witness to similar

passion. This car has been beautifully restored eye and owner

who felt so in love with this gem that he spent time and money getting

it back to how it would have looked in the showroom some 40 years ago.

In this programme, I will be heading off in this piece of history on

wheels to explore three sites that people are desperate to preserve. I

will be visiting a building in Portsmouth. The site of a gun

foundry next to a lake. And a former hospital founded in memory of a man

killed by an elephant. for this building to be allowed to get into

this horrendous state is a crime. Should they be saved and if so, what

to do with them? I will also catch up with some of the buildings

featured in the original BBC Two Restoration series.

I am going to suggest to you that there are some simple parameters

that would allow us to do `` decide what we should restore. I will be

the first to admit that not everyone agrees with my views. I'm not

welcome in Plymouth's Drake's Circus shopping centre after publicly

criticising the design. This is definitely not a listed building and

hopefully it never will be. And I also upset a lot of people in

Plymouth when I agreed with the idea that instead of pulling down their

crumbling civic centre, it should be listed. It's a great example of

mid`century architecture, though, like a number of other local

projects, restoration will be quite a challenge. But here's an example

of a successful renovation ` Plymouth's Royal William Yard. It's

a great waterside location and has had some ?50 million of public money

spent on it in addition to the huge investment by the developer, Urban

Splash. Personally, I think they've allowed the motor car to dominate

things too much and they need to sort that out. But I can't deny it's

thriving. I wonder, though, whether the decision to spend so much money

here has jeopardised other projects in the region? Every year, English

Heritage compiles an at risk register of the listed buildings and

monuments most threatened by neglect and decay and there are about 2,000

entries on the register for the greater South West region alone. The

money available to look after and help restore these sites is limited.

This year about ?1.5 million for the whole of the region. That's not

going to go far so how do we decide where we're going to spend the cash?

I think there are some sites we're just going to have to let go. These

18th century naval barracks at Maker Heights at Rame in Cornwall are on

the English Heritage priority A`list. ?4 million is needed but

there's no obvious lucrative end use. Currently, a group of artists

is based here. We've conserved a lot of military architecture, like the

Royal William Yard. What's the reason to actually restore this one?

Its site. Where it is, I mean, it's so strategic in terms of the

beautiful site that it's central to. We are an area of outstanding

natural beauty. But it's a pretty bleak place. How do you persuade

people to come here? Well, many people come here. They come here

because they have fond memories of when they used to come to the

children's camps. They come here because they're coming to a

festival. They come here to camp, for holidays. Just down the hill

from the barracks is the naval battery ` the guns have long gone,

the only thing fired here now is Helen's imagination. I think you've

only got to go up to the top and have a look at the views down to

realise that this is the most fantastic theatrical space possible.

I mean I've just got this magnificent vision of the place

becoming a theatre and coming alive with activity. Whether a location

like this can ever attract the money and the visitors needed to make

restoration here worthwhile is doubtful, but what it does reinforce

is that when it comes to success, more important than architecture,

history or bricks and mortar are the people to make it happen.

I've come to St Ives in Cornwall to discover the secret of one of the

region's most successful renovation projects. It only happened thanks to

the determination of a small group of dedicated enthusiasts. It's not a

grand building. It's actually a series of cellars and workshops but

it's a place that's played an important part in St Ives' history.

St Ives was built on its fishing industry. Once the biggest port on

the region's North Coast, the main catch was pilchards. In the mid`19th

century, more than 100 million fish were landed here every year. Behind

this wall, originally built to hold back the shifting sands, the

fishermen were able to build cellars where the pilchards were pickled in

brine and then pressed into barrels. The upper part of the building

eventually became artists' studios, with the fishermen working in the

cellars below but as the fishing went into decline, no money was

spent on the building. Damp got in and the whole site started to decay

but in 2004, a group of enthusiastic locals got together to make the

eight different funding applications needed to raise the money to restore

the building. Chris, it's great to meet you.

Pleased to meet you, Jeremy. I can't wait to see the inside of this

building. Can I show you around? Please do. Wow! What a place.

Beautiful, isn't it? Amazing. It is amazing. What I love about this

restoration is that it does not smell of new plaster and paint `

it's been properly restored, back to how it was when it was first built.

It's rough and ready and it's still being used by local fishermen.

There's a cooperage where they made the barrels. Everything was packed

and sent off in barrels and the front bit is where the pilchards

were balked ` in the open air, so there'd be a layer of pilchards, a

layer of salt and they'd build the pile up, several metres long, about

four or five feet high. And then they were broken out. They were

pressed to get the oil out. Oil was a really important product. And then

they were put in barrels and sent off to Italy. So it was a cash crop,

really important for the Cornish economy. This was actually built

using materials from the mining industry so we have the rising mains

and also the big timbers across are actually pump rods from the mining

industry. So it's not just that it's an important building, it's the

cultural history of the building which is important too? Yeah. This

is the last bit of old working St Ives. It was really important when

we were developing this project that this building is still being used by

the industries for which it was first designed. This is on a piece

of prime estate fronting Porthmeor Beach. If it hadn't been owned by a

charity it would have been turned into residential accommodation a

long time ago, like all its neighbours. And were there times

when you wanted to give up? Not really. There were times when you

felt it wasn't going to happen and then something would happen and it

would all start again. As I said, it did take about eight to ten years

from project start until you actually knew it was going to go

ahead. So you have to be really patient to make these happen. I

moved in 2005 into these studios. It was very very cold, water was coming

in, so there was the sound in the background of water landing in

buckets ` a kind of strange rhythm when you were working and it was

wet. If the studios hadn't been restored, it would have been the

most short`sighted thing and you'd have lost the working heart of St

Ives. You know, St Ives is famous for art and fishing and if those two

things can't exist then it's not real so that's made sure that there

are artists and fishermen here for the next 100 years and that's very

important for this whole area. You can't help but be impressed by

what's been achieved here. The campaigners made a good case for the

site and backed it with a passion for local history and heritage and a

clear vision of what the future use of the building would be. People are

an important factor and clearly passion is an important ingredient

too. But I would argue that while passion may be persuasive, on its

own it's not enough. Ten years ago, the ingenuity of

various campaign groups around the country was tested in the BBC's

Restoration series. The public could vote for whichever project they felt

deserved a ?3 million grant from English Heritage. This is the

original part of the house, from the 17th`century... Poltimore House near

Exeter was a finalist, but it did not win. This is much earlier, isn't

it? The 16th century house was adapted over the years, and later

became both a school and a hospital. The doors closed in 1976, and since

then it has slipped into ruin. It is so picturesque, moving around this

alleyway. This is how I imagine medieval Exeter would have been.

After their TV exposure, enthusiastic locals came together to

fundraisers. Ten years on, they are still at it. Although a temporary

tin roof now offers some protection from the elements, today, they still

need around ?12 million. We are coming through the main tower of the

19th`century staircase, and we are coming through here, into what was

the original Tudor courtyard. What are we looking at here?! Well, the

main part of the original building, which dates back to about 1560, had

three Tudor gate walls along the side. These two, and then a third

one, tucked behind a big staircase. How much work is there to do here?

It is enormous. In the section was washed damaged by the fire in 1987,

that has been neglected completely since then, we have not even been

able to survey it properly. Every part of the building probably will

need major work to the facades. Every window is broken and every

single slate is going to have to be taken off and renewed. So, we have

got another task on our hands. How do you keep motivated to continue

pushing this idea? I think it is extremely difficult. There are days

when I just think, this is a daft project to be involved in. On the

other hand, I think this is an important building, it is a

nationally important building, not just a local one, and I think the

more we understand about this building, and about the estate and

the history and the archaeology of the estate, the more we realise how

important this is. Is it worth the effort? I think it is. This is a

very big project, but I think the value that it shows about the care

that people have for the past is reflected very much in what we are

wanting to do for the future. But I have to say that there are days when

it is overwhelming, and financially, it is very, very difficult to keep

going. It is the people who come, the interest that we get from

people, which make it possibly worthwhile, but I have to say, there

are many days when we sit around the table looking pretty glum at each

other. What do we do next? How do we take this forward? Where do we go

for the next penny? It is a really difficult project, from that point

of view. Talking to Claire, she has convinced me that this is a great

building, well worth repairing. But none of that can happen until a

financially viable end use can be found. And at the moment, I just

cannot see that happening. ?12 million is a huge sum to find, and

that figure could rise faster than the volunteers here are able to

raise the funds. There is talk of this becoming a contemporary art

gallery or a training centre for heritage building skills. But does

the proposed end use really justify the enormous was renovation costs?

That brings me to three vital tests which I think a building should pass

before being worth the restoration. The first is that it should be

architecturally important. Poltimore House surely is. And here are three

other buildings at risk which definitely past that first test.

Sherborne House in Dorset was another subject of the Restoration

series. It was built around 1720. While the exterior has been

repaired, it needs a lot of interior work before it can be turned into

offices. The Literary And Scientific Institute in Bridport is smaller but

just as impressive. Built in the early 1800s, it is now in a poor

state. But the problem with any disused building is that it can

quickly reach a point of no return. The cost of repair becomes greater

than the value of the site, and restoration just is not worth it.

Getting dangerously close to that point is the New Palace Theatre in

Plymouth. It is another priority case for a dish outage. This is an

extraordinary building. It is the epitome of high Victorian taste. It

also passes my second test. As well as being a fine piece of

architecture, it has a fascinating history. The theatre opened on this

site in a team 98, is one of the first purpose`built palace of

varieties. Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Lily Langtree, and Harry

Houdini once played here. As the tasteful varieties of sided, it

became used for wrestling and bingo. It then had a chequered history as a

nightclub, but closed after a drugs raid in 2006. `` as the taste for

variety subsided. Since then, a small band of enthusiasts has been

fighting to save it. The lead was stolen off the roof, and when the

rain got in, the building decayed quickly. And after seven years of

neglect, local builder David Welsh now seems to be offering a glimmer

of hope. He has already begun essential repairs. You have taken on

Elisa for this building. Not me personally, but the project. We are

a not`for`profit company, and we have taken on a 27 year lease so

that we can work on it and get the project done. Is it just a passion

for the building? None of us are really passionate about theatre, we

see this as being a community centre, restaurants, different

things, different acts, going on. It is a whole community project, rather

than just a theatre. But we will restore it as a theatre and then we

can use it for other things. It is going to take a lot of money to get

to that stage ` where is the money going to come from? We are looking

at different grant agencies, the Big Lotto Fund, English Heritage,

architectural funds. We believe that if we speak to enough of them, we

will slowly get some money in to cover what needs doing. Is this what

you expected to see, Mhora? Well, it is certainly in a state, it needs

attention. Slightly worrying that the plasterwork is not in as good a

state as we might like. It is those with experience of rescuing faded

theatres believe this is a project which might just work. Here, we have

a really interesting situation, because we have a hotel which

adjoins the theatre. It was built originally as part of that of

element. So, the theatre and the hotel were one and the same. And it

has the potential to come back into use perhaps as a restaurant, with a

bar, underneath, but with some residential uses, or Hotel, above.

But as ever, it comes down to good management and making sure that you

get the right business plan in place and you get the right people on

board. We always say with these beautiful old theatres, you are

never really the owner, you are only the custodian. Actually, everybody

has to play their part in being a custodian of the building especially

when it is as special as this. Those passionate about this building, and

locally, the New Palace Theatre has many fans, will be in 2009, David

Welsh was jailed for fraud. He says his intentions here are genuine.

Everything has got to go through a bank account, so it can be audited.

It will all be done so that everything can be seen up front.

Somebody said to me, you are a Chronicle, and this lot, so I said,

I will resign, I will walk away. You get somebody to take over in my

place. And nobody has stepped up to do it yet. `` you are a criminal. In

the meantime, I am still getting dirty, I am still working. So, a

building which meets the first two of my conditions for a successful

restoration. It is a great building and it has got an interesting

history. But I am not sure about the business case. I think Dave may

struggle to convince the authorities to give him the money. Community use

for a building like this is important, and is a commendable

goal. But it does not bring in big money. Even if a project is

architecturally important and has a great history, public funding bodies

simply will not give restoration grants to projects which cannot also

then pay their way. Fortunately, there are some projects around which

meet all three of my conditions. This one in Paignton, on a grand

scale. Oldway Mansion was built in the 1870s for Isaac singer. He had

made a fortune and achieved global fame after inventing the sewing

machine. His son remodelled the building later to a design based on

the Palace of Versailles. It was a hospital in the First World War. But

after the Second World War, it was sold to the local council for

offices. Now, it is about to begin a as a luxury hotel. And this is not

without controversy. Developers hope to sell part of the grounds to help

fund the work. The remodelling has fallen to an architect who has been

chosen for his experience with large`scale renovation. There cannot

be many places which have a staircase looking like the Palace of

Versailles. It is most extraordinary and special. How do you actually

resolve the conversion of a space like this? The advantage we have got

here is that the existing space, the existing format, is ideally suited

to a hotel use. You coming into a very grand reception space, swept up

into this suite of formal rooms around the staircase, which will

make rate dining rooms and lounges. Above that, the existing rooms in

the house can be put over to residential use, bathrooms,

bedrooms, support facilities, servants quarters, again, perfect

for hotel bedrooms. But how do you insert lifts and plumbing and all of

those things which a modern hotel will need? That is one of the more

challenging aspect is. Clearly this was built in a different era, with

different requirements and challenges. So that will be an issue

for us, but it is cellular, I think it will be able to take it. But it

has to be sensitively handled. Phil, here, the garden is also listed `

how do you resolve the problems presented by that? As ever, there is

a commercial reality. The sums of money involved in bringing back to

use a building like this are huge. In this case, at Oldway, it has, at

the cost of redeveloping some of the grounds. We have worked very hard to

find various scenarios. We have worked with the local community,

English Heritage, the local authority, and we do just enough

development to cross found the important key works in the buildings

and gardens. That is an important factor, it is not an income

generating activity in itself, it is purely to save these buildings and

do what we have to do to make sure that these key works can be funded.

So, you have a passion for an old building, have decided it is

architectural use it to. You think it has a rich and interesting

history, and you have found a good use for it. Now, all you have to do

is to convince everyone else to agree with you. Not far from Oldway

Mansion is another English Heritage priority project. Opened in 1912,

the Torbay Cinema was one of the first purpose`built picture houses

in Britain. It closed in 1999 has been empty since all stop several

different organisations came together to raise ?1.5 million to

restore it, but the project foundered because they could not

agree a way forward. You have to be careful the way you tread across

here... 1999, the last film here, and no sign of the next one, so what

has the process been since that time? Difficult to start with,

because, with a more modern building, people do not tend to

value it as a heritage asset, although it was listed before it

actually closed. For us, we have been trying to keep it watertight

for the last 15 years, but over the last four or five years, we have

seen more of an interest in making it something special again, which is

good to be valued by the community, and used again, which is what we all

want in Paignton. But why's it so hard to get consensus? I think it is

because people do not regard a building from 1913 originally as

being particularly old. They can remember it when cinemas were free

pits and things like that, when we have seven or eight in every town.

And so, this being the last of the line, it was not really understood.

It has been operating with a heritage railway next door to it,

and people think, that is traditional heritage. It is only in

the last few years that people think, we have got something special

on our hands here. With any luck, the picture house will be is stored

and used for the purpose for which it was first built. An end`use is

always the key question. It is clear that only the projects with a

well`managed, sustainable, financially viable business plan are

going to succeed. Andrew, my idea is that you have got a really good

building, that it has got an interesting history, and that it has

a use for the foreseeable future, no matter what state it is in, somehow

the money will arrive to repair it. What is English Heritage's few? We

think there are many factors which can affect whether a building has a

future, sustainable use. The ownership is an enormous influence.

Often it is a case of whether the building as the capital cost of

repair, but sometimes, it is just about the amount of revenue that a

building can generate. I suspect the one we are sitting in at the moment

is just such a case. As you say, repair costs are not always a

problem, but it is about use and long`term revenue streams. So, do

you think it is the people that really matter? People can make the

difference between a building failing or being a complete success.

The enterprise and imagination which people bring to the use of these

buildings in the future is an enormous, it is almost a crunch

factor, in terms of how they can work. So, people are a common link

between the projects we have looked at. Dedicated volunteers, giving up

their time to save historic buildings. Another common fact is

that rescue has been left very late. The costs of restoration are

now so high that however passionate the campaigners are, they will need

to come up with spectacular business plans to justify the expenditure.

So, eventually, it is down to the determination and passion of

individual people. Restoration is complex and expensive. Although the

sums involved are tiny when compared to the national budget, all of the

projects we have looked at here could be completed together for a

fraction of the cost of a fighter craft. The Government will not save

them, there are no votes in heritage, which means that the

future of our historic buildings is up to the community, and that means

it is up to you to decide what is worth saving.

Hello, I'm Ellie Crisell with your 90 second update.

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