Heritage Centre Improvement Project - Trust Annual Report 1996
Projects always seem to take a long time to get going, followed by frenetic periods of activity alternating with periods of silence waiting for brown (or white) envelopes to arrive.
After initial discussions with the Chief Executive and two Chief Officers of the City Council in April 1995, we decided to seek a Longer Term Support Agreement with the City until such time as we could raise enough money to purchase the Heritage Centre and the small area of land at the back. However, it was not until the end of November 1995 that we were told we would not get any funding from the City Council. On 18 December we heard that the City Council would not sell us the property outright, but would give us a 99-year lease.
Having eventually established the correct boundaries of the property, and having made a promotional video generously given to us by Robin Baumber, work started in earnest this year with the appointment of Bob Howland as the Project Co-ordinator, and the preparation of the voluminous answers to the Heritage Lottery Fund questionnaire.
This needed answers on the history and objectives of the Trust and Heritage Centre, building construction plans, costs, business plans, VAT, details of how the model of the City was to be displayed, what improvements were planned for the existing building, together with full drawings, records, etc.
Experience was gained by studying the strengths and weaknesses of similar schemes in Rye, Buckler's Hard near Beaulieu, and even Boston (USA) and La Rochelle.
The results of all these deliberations finally went forward as a Planning Application in April 1996, followed by the submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund in May. Due to considerable pressures in the Lottery Commission, we did not even get the name of our Case Officer until late July. However, morale was quickly raised in early August when Planning Permission was granted without any hesitation on the part of the Planning Committee. This was undoubtedly due to the careful preparation by the building planning team under Michael Carden and Nick Bourne, and by the model of the extension constructed by Roger Brown, which gave a very clear idea of what was involved, and how it related to nearby buildings.
Further written question-and-answer exchanges with the Lottery Fund, and a visit by the District Valuer have now led to a further pause while we await further questions, and possibly a visit from the Lottery team at some time in the future.
In parallel with this, interviews have been taking place with firms interested in tendering for the internal fitting out of the audio-visual presentation of the model and the refurbishment of the rooms in the existing building.
A successful outcome from the lottery application will signal the start of the fund-raising campaign for about £70,000. Preliminary investigations are starting, and we have seen no reason yet to delay the re-opening target date of early 1998.
Development at the Heritage Centre - a bird's eye view based on the model by Roger Brown