Completed Projects | Medieval Hall | Withey's Yard | Cainscross Toll House | Arundel Mill House | Anti-Slavery Arch | Brunel Goods Shed Phase 1 | Brunel Goods Shed Phase 2 | HLF Community Action | SWAPT Heritage Fair | Plaques
The inaugeral event, May 2011
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Phase 2: A future found
On November 18th 2014 the Network Rail lease for The Brunel Goods Shed was formally assigned to Stroud Valleys Artspace. For the Preservation Trust this is the ending of a nearly three decade relationship with the building. We look forward to watching the creative use of this important Grade 2* listed building in the future. It has taken years of work to find a future for the Goods Shed. Numerous proposals were investigated by the Trust but they all proved too expensive, impractical or unacceptable to English Heritage. Ideas included a theatre, a restaurant, a Music Resource Centre, a museum and a Real Tennis court to name a few. Stroud Preservation Trust also commissioned feasibility studies of its own and employed a project worker for a while using an Architectural Heritage Fund grant. By the start of the new millennium, all proposals were hampered by a possible new transport interchange in the station area which would have entailed major redevelopment. Throughout this time the building, which was on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register for many years, was open and subject to vandalism such as graffiti, fires and stone quarrying. In 2010, Stroud Preservation Trust's trustees decided to secure the building with roller shutters to both protect it and make it more attractive to possible users. In addition, a raised floor was created over the platform and track and an external platform removed and replaced with a smaller balcony. The £129,000 project was funded with grants from the Railway Heritage Trust, Stroud District Council and Stroud Town Council. In 2011-12 further improvements were carried out with a £30,000 grant from the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust (GET), with landfill tax contributions donated by Cory Environmental, towards the cost of installing internal electricity circuits, toilets and drainage, and repairs and improvements to the offices and car park. The cost of running a new electricity cable to the Goods Shed was largely met by a £20,000 Railway Heritage Trust grant. Now a secure building with light, water and drainage, the Goods Shed was finally removed from English Heritage's Buildings at Risk register. The Trust are confident that the Goods Shed has a bright future. Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA), a registered charity, has a track record of achievements in Stroud restoring their own warehouse as artists' studios, developing the Open Studio trail since 1998 and running innovative exhibitions and events as part of their annual SITE festival. The Goods Shed has proved of major importance in the development of SVA's arts contribution to Stroud. The Goods Shed has been transformed from an unused, vandalised building open to the elements, to a secure and valued space filled with people and activity. |