WEB NEWS - 30th APRIL2004

CgMs SUCCESS

Success in High Court
The high court has dismissed an application for judicial review from Cherwell District Council against the First Secretary of State’s decision to allow an appeal by the Home Office for a new immigration accommodation centre at Bicester in Oxfordshire. This will be the first of the new style centres for accommodating and processing asylum applicants. CgMs are Planning Consultants to the Home Office.

HISTORIC BUILDINGS

Former Maze Prison and Long Kesh Army Base
The Historic Building team have been appointed by the Office of the First Minister & Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM), to undertake an assessment of Built Heritage at the former Maze Prison and Long Kesh Army Base near Lisburn, Northern Ireland. CgMs will provide an assessment and detailed record of the site, offering advice on the retention/preservation of any culturally or historically significant elements. The prison complex, which was closed in 2000, has been closely associated with the political struggle in Northern Ireland and faces a range of redevelopment proposals.

For further information on this project please contact Jon Lowe (jon.lowe@cgms.co.uk) or Ignatius Froneman (Ignatius.froneman@cgms.co.uk)

Former Brakspears Brewery, Henley on Thames
After the brewery’s closure in December 2002, a development brief was prepared by the local planning authority, South Oxfordshire District Council, for the re-use of the site, which contains a Grade II* and a number of Grade II listed buildings. A Statement of Significance and Historic Environment Impact Assessment prepared by CgMs, coupled with extensive consultation with English Heritage, persuaded the Council to grant consent for a comprehensive scheme for the whole site, which allows the demolition of three ‘curtilage’ 19th-century listed buildings and intensive redevelopment of the ‘New Brewery Yard’ for housing.

The bulk of the historic buildings around ‘The Old Brewery Yard’ are to be converted into a ‘bespoke’ hotel for Hotel du Vin Ltd. A number of improvements are also to be made to a series of listed and unlisted buildings along the important river frontage as part of the scheme.

For further information on this project please contact Nicholas Doggett (nicholas.doggett@cgms.co.uk)

A New Approach to Heritage Protection
Following public consultation, proposals for a new approach to heritage protection were announced by DCMS in early April. These have been broadly welcomed by English Heritage, who state that ‘the aim of the new system is to change the culture of protecting the historic environment from its generally passive, reactive and often adversarial form towards an approach that is positive, collaborative and strategic’.

There are clearly advantages to the creation of a ‘single unified list’, bringing together for the first time under a single system of identification and protection items, sites or even whole landscapes of archaeological, historical or architectural interest. The second principal aim of the proposals is ‘the establishment of statutory management agreements that allow for strategic management over the medium to long term’.

It will also simplify matters for organisations, which own large numbers of historic buildings that are listed or land protected by Scheduled Ancient Monument designation to deal with one system of protection and consent, rather than several as is currently the case.

There are, however, many practical difficulties to consider and overcome, particularly with regard to the introduction and implementation of ‘statutory management agreements’, before the proposals can become law. The current forecast is to introduce new primary legislation in 2007, but meanwhile (and prior to the publication of a Government White Paper), English Heritage have launched 15 pilot schemes on sites as varied as Centre Point in London, RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and the Godolphin Estate in Cornwall.

Further details on how the new system would operate and a formal response to the consultation already undertaken are due to be published in May.

ARCHAEOLOGY

Award for CgMs (Cheltenham)
CgMs Cheltenham (Archaeology) have won a Regional Award in the McCarthy & Stone Supplier of the Year Awards 2003. The award will be presented to Jim Hunter at a lunchtime ceremony at Kendleshire Golf Club, Bristol on 13th May 2004. As a Regional Winner CgMs has been nominated for the McCarthy & Stone National Awards to be held on 24th May 2004. We would like to thank McCarthy & Stone We always enjoy working with them on their projects and it's great to have our efforts recognized in this way.