Vital work to put heritage at the heart of Nottingham

Added by Love Business East Midlands | 4 January 2021

UPDATED: 4 January 2021

A panel set up to support and protect Nottingham’s heritage treasures has been looking back at its achievements as the city approaches a new year.

The Nottingham Heritage Panel was set up in response to the award-winning Nottingham Heritage Strategy five years ago to help promote and improve the condition of heritage sites in Nottingham. It is supporting the city’s drive to celebrate and preserve its past, which has seen a number of successful schemes come to fruition.

Among them was the launch earlier this year of the City of Nottingham Historic Buildings Limited charity (CoNHBL), which aims to identify heritage monuments, registered parks and gardens, historic buildings in conservation areas and locally listed gems which need help.

Peter Ellis, chair of the heritage panel and CoNHBL board of trustees, said:

“We have been developing plans to protect and conserve a number of historic buildings which will benefit the city by bringing them back into good use while also giving people a sense of pride in what Nottingham has to offer. It has some wonderful buildings.”

Winning funding for new heritage projects could provide further working opportunities for 2021, as the city tries to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

“There is a need for skilled tradespeople who can connect with heritage projects,” said Mr Ellis.

Earlier this year, the CoNHBL secured funding from the Architectural Heritage Fund and a National Lottery Heritage grant, with help from Nottingham City Council, to preserve the long-term future of the grade II listed Bulwell Hall Stables.

And it has been working with the city council to find a future for the grade II star listed People’s Hall in Heathcoat Street, Hockley.

The charity is also using heritage at risk registers to identify future projects and working in partnership with the council, Historic England and Nottingham Civic Society and the public.

Mr Ellis praised recent efforts of the council and its funding partners to renovate an array of shop fronts in the city centre, returning them to their former glory.

Shops on Market Street, Wheeler Gate and Upper Parliament Street were awarded funding through Nottingham’s Heritage Action Zone, a five-year project worth £2.7m overall which was given financial support by Historic England.

Work will also continue to pinpoint neglected buildings in the Lace Market, Sneinton Market and around Old Market Square.

Other successful projects include the Townscape Heritage Scheme, supported by £680,000 of National Lottery Heritage funding, which has seen restoration work on buildings in Carrington Street and Station Street, including the Gresham Hotel, Hopkinson vintage and arts centre, a former police station and Gordon House.

“All these schemes have raised the profile of Nottingham’s heritage and led to a recognition that its buildings are an extraordinary legacy, particularly those Georgian and Victorian properties that we are trying desperately hard to keep going,” said Mr Ellis.

“There has been some good work taking place, notwithstanding the difficulties everyone has faced in this lockdown era.

“We’ve also seen a willingness on the part of the business and entrepreneurial community to do what they can with some of these buildings. It shows what can be done with older buildings which might otherwise be lost.”

And he added:

“The public has a big role to play in bringing things to our attention; their pet projects and interests. It could just be a ramshackle building but if it is of interest, then we want to hear from people.”

Alice Ullathorne, the city council’s heritage strategy officer, said:

“We must have tackled 25 to 30 shopfronts in the last five years, bringing around 10 to 15 buildings into better condition.

“On Carrington Street, from Canal Street and up to the Broadmarsh, buildings that were vacant for years have been brought back to life through the grant funding. It’s made a big difference and the area can really complement what will happen to the Broadmarsh site.”

Alice is also keen to see more members of the public suggest buildings which ought to be added to the Nottingham Local List, which is regularly reviewed by the Heritage Panel.

“There are lots of interesting buildings which would not be given listed status by Historic England, but they are really important to the story of Nottingham,” she said.

“If they were lost, people would be really upset. We’re not saying that a building can never change if it’s on the list, but it is important to recognise heritage of local significance.

“We want to really promote Nottingham’s local list and to get a real diversity of people nominating projects we can look at. Heritage is really valued in this city… what we have seen is that local people can get involved and have new ways of protecting what they love.”

If you are interested in supporting the charity, email NottinghamHBT@gmail.com

For more information about Nottingham’s Local List and to make a suggestion, go to https://info.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/planning/local-list-submission/

Picture: People's Hall

< Back