The Prince's Regeneration Trust

The Prince's Regeneration Trust works throughout the United Kingdom to ensure that important historic buildings at risk of demolition or decay are preserved, regenerated and reused. The charity focuses its heritage-led regeneration in socially and economically deprived areas of the UK. This is because such areas will benefit most and because solutions for historic buildings at risk in such areas are more challenging to achieve.

Most of the buildings The Prince’s Regeneration Trust is involved with are listed buildings and some are also important local monuments in conservation areas. The charity works in partnership with building owners, developers, community groups, local authorities and other public bodies to find sensitive and sustainable new uses for historic buildings at risk.

The charity was founded when HRH The Prince of Wales created two initiatives in 1996 – the Phoenix Trust and Regeneration Through Heritage – to try to rescue important buildings from neglect and dereliction. In 2006 he brought these two initiatives together under the new name The Prince’s Regeneration Trust.

Vision

Our vision is that redundant historic sites, at risk of demolition or decay, are rescued, reused and regenerated for the benefit of the surrounding community. We believe that to restore our historic places into active and relevant community assets is not only possible - it is the most sustainable approach to regeneration. Buildings, like people and places, need to adapt to survive. Our projects provide new employment, training, educational opportunities and simply allow local people to actively engage with and enjoy their heritage and surrounding environment. We work throughout the United Kingdom, focusing mainly on projects in socially and economically deprived areas - where the benefit of regeneration will be the greatest. Where possible, we work with other charities in The Prince of Wales's group of charities, in areas such as the built environment, education, creativity, business and the community.^[1]

What The Prince's Regeneration Trust Does

There is enormous demand to save our much-loved heritage but there is a lack of experience in adapting historic buildings for future use. We provide the necessary expertise, skills and tools to deliver successful heritage-led regeneration projects across the UK. We create sustainable regeneration by listening to and learning from those who will drive it, sustain it and benefit from it - local people. Partnership is key to our success: we work with community groups, building owners, local authorities and other public bodies as an advisor, enabler, fundraiser and advocate. We occasionally undertake projects as principal and step in as developer of last resort. Through our research and education programmes, we deliver conferences, workshops and publications, reaching a much wider audience than we can directly through our projects.^[2]

Key Projects

Stanley Mills

This was The Prince’s Regeneration Trust’s first project and was hugely ambitious. The charity restored and adapted this vast, complex and unique Category ‘A’ listed site of water-powered cotton mills, situated on a majestic bend of the River Tay, into residential accommodation.^[3]

Middleport Pottery

In 2011 Middleport Pottery was at serious risk of closure because of the very poor state of repair of the buildings. This would have seen the loss of jobs and substantial buildings of historic significance would have been left to further degenerate. But in the same year The Prince’s Regeneration Trust stepped in to buy and save the buildings and began a £9 million project to revitalise them. After The Prince’s Regeneration Trust bought the site Denby Pottery continued to operate in the factory as a tenant. The production of Burleigh pottery has continued uninterrupted at the site since it opened in 1889. The restoration work included a varied and extensive programme of training and educational activities to support the local community in skills provision with an emphasis on traditional British craftsmanship. The Pottery opened to the public as a visitor destination in July 2014 following the three-year regeneration.

The restoration enabled Burleigh Pottery to remain on-site, saving local jobs and craftsmanship. In total the restoration has saved 50 local jobs and created 70 more. The unused buildings have been developed to provide attractive accommodation for workshops, enterprise space, craft and community areas, a cafe, a gallery and a heritage visitor centre.^[4]

Wedgwood Institute

The Prince's Regeneration Trust and the Burslem Regeneration Company have been working together to develop a viable new scheme for the Institute.^[5] In 2012 The Prince’s Regeneration Trust set up a project team with English Heritage, The Prince’s Charities and Stoke-on-Trent Council. Working together, the team produced a design which will conserve the original 1860s building and revive the Institute’s raison d’être of supporting enterprise and delivering education.

Phase One Works

The Prince’s Regeneration Trust carried out the first stage of the Institute’s restoration between February and September 2015. The building work was done by contractors William Anelay Ltd. Costing approximately £850,000, this has safeguarded the structure of the building and made the Institute’s ground floor available for temporary public use, such as office space, community events and exhibitions. The first phase was made possible with funding from the European Regional Development Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic England and Stoke Council.

Main Phase Works

The main works aim to transform the building into an enterprise hub and centre for start-up businesses. The Prince’s Regeneration Trust estimates that the Institute could provide space for around 20 to 25 businesses, creating up to 150 jobs for local people, as well as room for business meetings, professional training and mentoring and community facilities. Subject to further funding being secured, work on the main phase of the project is expected to start in spring 2017, with the fully redeveloped Institute due to open in 2018-19.^[6]

Govanhill Baths

Local community group the Govanhill Baths Community Trust (GBCT) wants to refurbish the Baths as a wellbeing centre. This is a comprehensive response to the call for better individual and community health facilities in the area, which GBCT identified through significant community consultation research in 2009. Critical to this vision of a wellbeing centre is a holistic concept of restoration and regeneration for the wider Govanhill community. Through the project GBCT wants to achieve crime prevention, community cohesion, local economic growth and employment opportunities.

GBCT has appointed The Prince’s Regeneration Trust as project manager to oversee the work at the site and the development of an ambitious programme of community engagement activities. Working with the Board of GBCT, this will lead to the appointment of a design team and a full Business Plan, which will help GBCT to work up and submit a further application for funding for the completion of Phase 1.^[7]

Montagu Monuments

The Montagu Monuments are four stunning marble statues in the unlikely setting of Grade I listed St Edmund’s Church in Warkton, Northamptonshire. Considered to be of world class importance, the statues commemorate four members of the same family, the Montagus from nearby Boughton House. Two of them were created by Louis Francois Roubiliac, who is considered to have been one of the greatest sculptors working in 18th century England.

Having been ravaged by the elements over time, the sculptures had reached a poor condition in recent years, with one of them structurally unsound, and their future was uncertain. But thanks to a £489,000 conservation project in which each sculpture was individually cleaned and restored, the Monuments’ future has been secured and they are in their best condition since they were first installed. The project was led by St Edmund’s Parochial Church Council and the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust and managed by The Prince’s Regeneration Trust.^[8]

Worksop Priory Gatehouse

Worksop Priory is an Augustinian monastery founded in the early 12th century. The Gatehouse was added in the early 14th century and is now a Grade I listed building. It includes a shrine chapel which is still occasionally used for worship and has an external wall covered in sculpture – a frontage which is unique in the UK but is deteriorating fast.

The Prince’s Regeneration Trust’s involvement with the Worksop Priory and Gatehouse Community Trust (WPGCT) began in 2008 when English Heritage made the introduction. In November 2008 The Prince’s Regeneration Trust led a planning day bringing together the various stakeholders, and a steering group comprising WPGCT, the local council and other stakeholders, now meets regularly. To begin with The Prince’s Regeneration Trust worked on restoring an adjacent building, the Prisewell Centre, which was a school attached to the Priory. This was very successful and now has office space and meeting rooms which can be rented out.

The charity is now looking for funds for an options appraisal so it can explore and cost all the possible uses, and put forward WPGCT’s preferred option. It has received a percentage of capital funding from English Heritage to restore the chapel and has applied to the National Church Trust for funding.^[9]

Crumlin Navigation Colliery

The Colliery was built in 1907-1911 at a time when South Wales was the world’s largest coal-exporter. It still has 11 separately listed buildings as well as other listed surrounding structures – the winding houses, fan house, chimney and power-house are all listed Grade II*.

In 2015 The Prince’s Regeneration Trust appointed engineering and contracting specialists Hydrock to carry out the first phase of work to kick-start the regeneration of the historic Colliery. Hydrock are investigating and tackling flooding and pollution risks and are securing the site by repairing a large pipe beneath the main access road which is on the brink of collapsing. The urgent works, which are now in the process of being completed, have been funded by a £250,000 grant from the Welsh Government.^[10]

References

1. The Prince's Regeneration Website
2. The Prince's Regeneration Website
3. The Prince's Regeneration Website
4. The Prince's Regeneration Website
6. Prince's Regeneration Trust Wedgwood Institute project page
7. The Prince's Regeneration Website
8. The Prince's Regeneration Website
9. The Prince's Regeneration Website
10. The Prince's Regeneration Website

External links

• Official website