The SAVE Trust purchased Grade II* at risk Castle House after a CPO Inquiry in 2002. Now restoration work is finally to begin.
Follow this link for the story of Castle House
After many years of neglect Castle House was in a perilous condition. In 1998 an application for demolition was expected. The threat of the wrecker’s ball triggered English Heritage to upgrade the building from Grade II to Grade II*. The SAVE Trust purchased the building at Public Inquiry in 2002, following which the project was taken forward by Kit Routledge of Richard Pedlar Architects with Brian Morton and Rik Fox of the Morton Partnership acting as structural engineers.
In April 2009, thanks to a grant from English Heritage Chris Balme of Acanthus Fergurson Mann was appointed to take over the reins as project architect. Chris has since been working hard in conjunction with the SAVE Trust to secure the long term future of this historic building.
With the help of another English Heritage grant, SAVE was able to purchase and erect new scaffolding (including a temporary roof) and carry out a full investigation of the building.
SAVE's regeneration consultant, Martin Davidson of Hannah Reynolds Associates, has now identified an end user for the building, the Bridgwater Arts Centre - and an outline scheme has been drawn up for its conversion into an arts centre. Sedgemoor District Council has generously donated the adjacent site to the SAVE Trust which will provide space for a new performance studio to support the work of the Centre.
English Heritage has continued to support the project and has provided another grant of £180,000 to carry out emergency works on the building. These will commence shortly.
