Placemaking through heritage in the largest village in England.

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​The aim:

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​To restore an important Grade 2 listed medieval cottage in Cranleigh High Street, which had housed the first cottage hospital in the UK and is now sadly in a state of disrepair, so that it can become a hub for the community. To meet an identified need in Cranleigh for social prescribing, the reimagined cottage hospital building will focus on health and wellbeing purposes.

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​The organisation:

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​The Cranleigh Heritage Trust, a volunteer run CIO that grew out of the Cranleigh Civic Society. A group of interested volunteers from the Society decided that they wanted to save the cottage from further dereliction and formed the Trust, which has the sole purpose of saving and re using the cottage.

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The activity:

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The Trust approached the owners of the cottage, NHS Property Services, and were able to negotiate a transfer of the property on a long-term lease for a peppercorn rent. On the condition that they were able to raise funds for the restoration, NHS Property Services also offered £50k towards the capital costs. The group had no experience themselves of heritage projects but were fortunate to obtain pro bono help from a retired architect who was able to draw up the necessary works for restoration. They were, however, still lacking in any funds to enable them to take the project forward and to employ professionals to develop all the necessary information they would need for funding applications.

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After approaching The Architectural Heritage Fund, they were granted some ‘pump priming’ funding to get more surveys done to understand the costs for the work they were proposing and to engage a heritage professional to help them prepare a fundraising strategy.

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After some months of work, they were in a position to make an application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for a grant to restore the cottage and develop an Activity Plan. They submitted a successful application for £65k for a ‘development phase’ in which they could take the work forward to a detailed ‘delivery phase’ application.

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During the development phase they progressed the works with community consultation, making links with local schools and young people – all work to understand how the cottage would be used in the future and how it could become an asset for Cranleigh. Detailed plans were drawn up to show what the cottage would look like after restoration and how the history of the cottage could be brought alive. Consultation with planners and local heritage conservation officers was important at this stage and working with the local Chamber of Commerce and Lions group to understand how the cottage would contribute to efforts to reinvigorate the High Street and serve the increasing number of newcomers moving into the area.

The Trust has been successful in raising over £80k in matched funding and has submitted a ‘delivery phase’ application, the results of which will be known in December 2024.

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The building will serve as a much-needed venue for the community and it will be a significant heritage resource for schools and local residents.  Social prescribing will be the main income generator. There will be regular talks and walks interpreting local history, giving greater awareness of the history of the village for the community. The upstairs rooms will accommodate an archive of local history for community use including displays and a digital repository for photographs and documents as well as being available for rent. The downstairs main room will be equipped as a meeting space that can be hired out regularly.

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Revenue generated will support the ongoing running of the building along with local fundraising. The restoration of the cottage will give an improved opportunity for the local community to understand the long history of the village and understand the place in which they live.

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The results:

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Securing the transfer of this property to the Trust and raising over £80k in matched funding to complete the development phase of the project.

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By removing this building from ownership that had no use for it or understanding of its significance, the Trust are rescuing and reinvigorating an important historic building for the community.

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The project has created a real sense of interest and pride in this previously forgotten building. It has brought the community together in support.

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Tips:

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• Do not underestimate the time it takes to make large funding applications – the decision times are lengthy and will add to the time your project will take.

• Using as much pro bono help as possible is a great asset, there are many retired highly skilled people out there who will give time so seek them out.

• If you are not familiar with heritage and historic buildings seek out some funding to bring some experienced people on board, they can save you time and money.

• There are funders who will support projects with some ‘start up’ funding. You do not have to go for the big sums straight away.

• Get your community on board as early as possible – pride in the place they live and the desire to make it better is a very strong and powerful tool.