Work to restore historic city centre buildings unveiled

Nottingham City Council’s Townscape Heritage Scheme is celebrating its largest grant-funded project to date, as works to repair and restore the frontage of a historic building on Carrington Street have been unveiled.

Gordon House, which was once home to Shipsides car showroom, has seen the upper floor frontage repaired and cleaned, and the original glass frontage reinstated across the whole of the ground floor.

The Townscape Heritage Scheme, which is supported by National Lottery Heritage funding, helps owners restore historic buildings in the Carrington Street and Station Street area with up to 67% of the costs of building repair or other heritage works, such as the reinstatement of traditional shop-fronts.

The City Council has been working on the Gordon House restoration project with the building’s owners Bhatia Best, its architects Rayner Davies and managing agents Bruton Knowles.

Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing and Chair of the Townscape Heritage Grants Panel, councillor Linda Woodings, said: “We’re excited to see the restoration of this key landmark building which will help transform the Carrington Street area back into the impressive gateway it once was.

“The south side of the city centre is undergoing a major transformation and Carrington Street is one of the first views visitors see when travelling into the city. This scheme is not only helping to improve the look of this busy pedestrian route, but is also helping to preserve and restore some important historical features, which might have been lost otherwise.

“We are proud of Nottingham’s past and ambitious for its future and heritage led regeneration can be a powerful pull for investment, creates jobs and helps support supply chain businesses which will be important going forward as the city recovers from Covid-19”.

Ash Bhatia, of Bhatia Best, said: “We are a local business who have called this building home for over 20 years. We’re proud to be investing our own money, alongside the grant funding, to give our premises a new lease of life and help regenerate this part of the city”.

Liz Bates, Head of Investment for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Midlands & East, added: “We are delighted that lottery player’s money is helping Nottingham’s Townscape Heritage scheme go from strength to strength. Repair of this building has been a high priority for funding from the outset and we’re delighted to celebrate the completion of the scheme”.

Since the scheme started in 2016, a number of buildings have already benefited from grant funding. These include The Barley Twist, The Gresham Hotel, and No’s.18, 20, 22-26 and the Urban Rooms at 38 Carrington Street. On Station Street, Hopkinsons and a former Police Station have also received grants.