LATEST NEWS
OCTOBER 2011

Council to enter into discussions with the Heritage Lottery Fund to save
Broomfield House

Following the disappointing news that, due to Government cuts to housing
budgets, the Mayor of London and the GLA are unable to grant the promised
£5.47m to restore Broomfield House, the Council met with the GLA to
examine how to take the project forward. The net result was to agree that the
only way forward was to create a package of funding which would include
support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A meeting is now scheduled with the
HLF for mid November to discuss the possibility of a bid for the funding for the
heritage component and to align it with a development partner for the
remaining aspects.

The meeting with the GLA also settled the matter of other sources of money.
None are available including the much-publicised North London Housing
‘underspend’ that the GLA keep referring to. This pot is called section 31
money and is delegated to London sub-regions for housing. The North
London sub-region has told the GLA that this money is fully committed and is
being spent on each Borough’s housing plans and that there is NO
underspend nor available money. This has closed down this straw that was
being waved around.

This package approach to the funding will introduce different criteria to the
GLA’s (mainly from the HLF) which may necessitate the amendment of the
current scheme. The Council has a good track record with the HLF, having
successfully bid for the restoration of Forty Hall, which is now on site. Bids to
the HLF are in two competitive rounds so there are no guarantees, but the
Council has no other acceptable option left and we are running out of time.
Expert advice from a leading heritage specialist is that the remains are in
rapid decline and probably will be beyond restoration in a couple of year’s
time. This is the last lap of this marathon to save Broomfield that goes back
to 1984.

The package therefore includes and necessitates contributions from the
Heritage Lottery Fund, the confirmation of a further £500k from the GLA (that
will enable us to progress the scheme) and a housing provider for that
component..

Where we are…
The Council bid for and won an allocation of £5.97m from the Mayor’s
Targeted Funding Stream for housing in 2008. This proposed restoring the
House and converting it and the stables and yard to homes for older people
complete with a community space/café on the ground floor. We received a
“1st phase” grant of half a million from the GLA in 2010 to enable design work
to commence. We commissioned conservation architects and other
specialists and design work was brought forward to RIBA Stage D in March
2011 – ready for a planning application and listed building consent. English
Heritage was shown the proposals and was very supportive. We held ideas
workshops with local groups and then carried out an extensive public
consultation exercise in early 2011. The scheme generated substantial
support. There was a question about how many homes to provide to make it
economically viable and if more community space could be provided. The
Council will look again at these issues.

Here is the report on the workshops (carried out with Green Issues)

Here is the report on the public consultation (carried out by Green Issues)

Here is the consultant’s RIBA Stage D report
Appendix A - Design Team Details
Appendix B - Stage D Proposals
Appendix C - Design and Access Statement
Appendix D - Services Engineer Report
Appendix E - Sustainability Report
Appendix F - Structural Engineer Report
Appendix G - Cost Plan
Appendix I - Programme
Appendix J - Surveys
Appendix K - Risk Register
Appendix L - Community Engagement
Appendix M - Ecology Report
Appendix N - Transport Engineer Report
Appendix O - Waste Management Reports
Appendix P - Acoustic Engineer Report
Appendix Q Geotechnica Desktop Study

Discussions continue with the GLA to seek further enabling funding which
may allow progress on the restoration to continue. The GLA did suggest
reviewing the original s.31 housing grants made to the consortium of northern
boroughs but the Council’s investigations have revealed that all the money in
that pot is already allocated to other committed schemes. Other housing
grants are very limited, but the GLA are looking into them to find some funding
which could facilitate further development of the proposals.

Other options
In parallel with the design work we commissioned the architects to go back to
first principles and ascertain what other viable options would be open to the
Council if the Mayor/GLA’s promised funding did not happen. A series of
workshops were held with community groups and stakeholders to look into
this. However, the consultant’s RIBA Stage A report makes clear that the
balance between what would be acceptable to the community and what would
be economically viable is extremely difficult to achieve.

Here is the consultant’s RIBA Stage A report

In summary the options boil down to:-

  • A variant on the current scheme with some community use. This would depend on
    1/ the level of financial support from a housing development partner.
    2/ the level of public subsidy from other bodies (eg the HLF and English Heritage) to pay for the ‘heritage deficit’
  • Restore and extend the house for commercial use (this has been tried in the past, but was opposed by some in the community). Develop the stables and yard for private housing.
  • Consolidate the house as a ruin or demolish. Develop the stables and yard for private housing

As you can see, the Council is looking at the first option. This composite
approach to funding, while risky, is our best option.

As a first step, as noted above, the Council has asked the GLA to grant a
further half a million pounds to allow the project to progress to RIBA Stage E -
including satisfactorily addressing the planning, consents and covenant issues
and the tendering and procurement of a housing development partner
(probably a RSL or housing association). This will reveal how much of the
cost of the project will be met through the housing element. We know that the
scheme will cost approximately £8m, so we can deduct the housing money
from that to reveal how much public subsidy we need for the project and the
amount we therefore need to bid to the HLF/EH for.

Taking forward the first option will not be an easy task, nor will it be quick.
The various agencies have strict criteria and there will be many hoops to jump
through to gain their support. We are confident that we can find a
development partner for the housing elements. If all goes well and the HLF
do grant-aid the restoration we will probably be 18 months down the line –
remember, the surviving structure is only expected to last two more years.
Time is tight.