It was great to see one of my favourite town centre-based community enterprises announced this week as one of 12 worthy beneficiaries of the expansion of the Architectural Heritage Fund’s Heritage Development Trusts model.
Galeri Caernarfon
Since it was formed in 1992, a key role of Galeri Caernarfon has been to buy old, derelict and unused properties within the historic town walls. The development trust has to-date, transformed over thirty such properties in the town centre which are now occupied, contribute to the local economy and provide an income stream for the trust.
I have been tracking the work of Galeri Caernarfon since I visited the development trust nearly a two decades ago. That it appears to go from strength to strength does not surprise me. What does surprise me though is that its heritage development trusts model does not have more plaudits and its approach is not replicated in town and cities across the U.K.
Growing heritage property portfolio
The development trust’s properties are split over three town centre locations:
- 16 town centre businesses premises that are all fully let as shops, offices, salons, café/restaurants and additional residential lettings over five streets.
- A cinema/theatre, café-bar and galleries along with 14 arts/creative companies in workspaces that collectively employ over 80 members of staff.
- 19 units/workshops (pictured) that are suitable to makers of all kinds following a restoration project working with the site’s owners, the Caernarfon Harbor Trust.
Win, win, win
For me, Galeri Caernarfon, as an example of the heritage development trusts model, provides a win, win, win situation for a town’s built heritage and economic vitality whilst creating a sustainable model for re-investing in the community.
Get it right and as the look and feel of the town improves, so does the value of the trust’s property portfolio. It is the type of initiative where available public funds for town and city centre capital projects could be invested to maximise the benefits; especially if supplemented by revenue support to build the capacity of such organisations.
New support from Heritage Development Trusts Fund
Great therefore to learn this week that Galeri and Caernarfon was one of 12 heritage development trusts in towns and cities across the U.K., to benefit from a new £5 million fund supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund and charity the Architectural Heritage Fund.
The new fund is targeted at empowering communities to breathe new life into their disused and at-risk historic buildings by enabling social enterprises to take over and transform at-risk high street buildings. In Caernarfon the funding will allow Galeri to explore new opportunities and in doing so, making a further contribution to the local community, provide an economic boost to the town, as well as protecting important buildings of historic interest.
Supporting a pipeline of projects
Other beneficiaries of the new fund include another favourite initiative of mine, Derry/Londonderry’s Inner City Trust’s that has a track record in restoring heritage buildings within this historic walled city.
Heritage development trusts will also be supported Leicester, Luton and Haverfordwest, and they will each receive funding of between £55,000 and £70,000 a year to acquire and redevelop a pipeline of local historic buildings. The trusts can also apply for grants to support early project development, and will be given guidance from consultants and mentors to develop their skills and knowledge alongside peer-to-peer support to expand their network of contacts.
Further information
You can read more about £5million of funding being awarded as part of a new partnership between the National Lottery Heritage Fund and charity the Architectural Heritage Fund, to expand the Heritage Development Trust model across the UK.
Find out more about the history and regeneration of Galeri Caernarfon’s most recent project enabling the restoration and re-use of heritage buildings at Cei Llechi (pictured).
Read our review of the report “community-powered high streets” published by Power to Change which makes an important and timely call for greater importance to be given to the role of community businesses in the revitalisation of our town and city centres.
People & Places are authors of the Local Government Association’s revitalising town centres toolkit. This toolkit includes practical guidance on the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of town centre revitalisation through work that we lead such as reopening East Suffolk’s towns and planning for recovery in Letchworth.
Contact services@people-places.net to find out more about how People & Places can help plan for the revitalisation of your town centre.
