Consultants to explore in detail the viability of the scheme. Recommendations were made to increase the lettable floorspace within the complex.

Fortuitously, in early 1994, the Rural Development Commission launched a major government funded scheme called ‘Rural Challenge’. It was immediately clear that although the competition was going to be tough, the aims and objectives of the Boughton Project needed only minor ‘tweaking’ to demonstrate close conformity with all eligibility criteria for Rural Challenge.

One of the key concepts that had ‘blossomed’ over the months of development of the project was sustainability. Dialogue with the Forestry Commission locally had led to the innovative idea of heating and powering the building by a combined heat and power (CHP) engine fuelled by forestry waste. This, and other ‘green’ concepts for the building, were to prove a vital key to the success of the project in ‘Rural Challenge’ and in November 1994 it was announced that the Partnership was the winner of one of the six £1 million prizes throughout the country.

As well as acquiring new partners in the project, the Rural Challenge process moved the Working Party towards a more formal Partnership status and the establishment of a Charitable Trust. A downside of success in Rural Challenge was that the RDC demanded a start on the project by April 1995 and planning permission and listed building consent had yet to be granted! Success at Rural Challenge spurred the Partnership to further efforts and despite pledges of funding from members of the consortium (mainly public bodies) amounting to approximately £1 million it was clear that substantial additional funds would still need to secured. The scheme by now had been included in the District’s SRB programme, adding an extra £8,000 to the total. The next major boost to the project came in 1995 when a further £900,000 was secured from the European Union. With the bit now firmly between the teeth the partnership made a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and in March 1997 this yielded an additional £750,000.

With funding from a number of partners, both public and private, the Pumping Station Project was now on a firm footing. A start on phase 1 of the building work had been made on site in February 1996 and early in 1997 the first tenants, including the Furniture Project and a local potter moved in. The second and final phase of the project is due for completion before the end of the year. An essential ingredient to the proper future management of the project has been

the establishment of a limited company with a formal structure of Directors. A further essential element has been the ‘gifting’ of the land and building to the Trust by STW, valued to be worth £180,000.

The end product

The essence of the Boughton project has been to produce a balanced mix of commercial and non-commercial floorspace including:

• managed workshops located in the former boiler house;

• high quality offices in the Engine House, set around an atrium which retains the internal scale and

spatial qualities;

• community facilities including lettable function space;

• visitor facilities based on a renewable energy theme;

• restaurant.

The total scheme cost (including building works and facilities) amounts to nearly £4m.

Conclusion

The Boughton Pumping Station project is not yet fully complete but already some valuable lessons have been learnt. Securing a cocktail of funding from a variety of sources has clearly been essential to the success of the project, but this has not been without its problems — not least because of conflicting requirements of different funding bodies. For example, in order to meet Rural Challenge and European Union funding requirements the phase 2 contract had to be let by July 1996 but the Lottery Award on which the project would rely was not made until March

1997!

Ultimately, the major lesson from the Boughton Project has been that to deal with a multi-problem building like the Pumping Station, those involved need to be both pragmatic and tenacious, and prepared to ‘play the long game’. Without a doubt the project can be regarded as a major success in terms of community involvement in conservation, local commitment and sustainable re-use. In short, an example of conservation, not just for its own sake, but as part of an imaginative initiative to regenerate the whole community.

Philip Grover is Director of the MSc/Diploma

Course in Historic Conservation at Oxford

Brookes University (and former Conservation

Manager at Newark and Sherwood District

Council); Roy Lewis is Principal Conservation

AssistantatNewark and Sherwood District Council.

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