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Work finally starts on Restoration winner Victoria Baths

http://www.ajplus.co.uk/Images/Articles/150207_BATH_MAIN.jpg

After more than three and a half years of waiting, work finally looks set to start on the revamp of Manchester’s Victoria Baths – winner of the BBC’s first series of historic-buildings-in-peril show Restoration.
Manchester-based practice Arca has been named as part of the developer-led team taking on the overhaul of the abandoned 100-year-old pool in Chorlton-on-Medlock.

The move ends years of speculation about the future of the project, which appeared to have stagnated after achieving national fame by landing Restoration’s £3 million top prize in 2003.

It is understood that landowner Manchester City Council is on the verge of naming Artisan Ship Canal Developments as the chosen developer to take the complex scheme forward.

One of the first tasks for the design team will be how to make any refurbishment and reuse of the 1906 building stack up financially. The original £3 million cash windfall from the BBC was earmarked solely for the restoration of the Turkish baths – a project which began with the removal of delicate stained-glass windows last June.

According to the development brief drawn up by the Victoria Baths Steering Group, the selected developer’s proposals must include the reopening ‘for public use of at least one of the swimming pools’ and the ‘retention of as much of the historic fabric of the building as possible, especially those features identified in the conservation plan as having special architectural or historic importance.’

It is understood that the Artisan/Arca bid was chosen ahead of a number of other developer-led teams, including proposals from locally based firms Hodder Associates and OMI Architects.

One long-term observer said he was delighted that the powers that be have finally come up with a solution to the problem. He said: ‘It’s taken the authorities a long time to get to this point, and at one stage it looked like nothing was ever going to happen, but at least there now appears to be a glimmer of hope.’

One long-term observer said he was delighted that the powers that be have finally come up with a solution to the problem. He said: ‘It’s taken the authorities a long time to get to this point, and at one stage it looked like nothing was ever going to happen, but at least there now appears to be a glimmer of hope.’

I love these 'long-term observers', almost as much as I love 'sources close to the player', 'shocked onlookers' and 'excited insiders' - they are they so helpful to hacks with their convenient quotes.

..aye! Glimmers of hope keep us all going :lol: !

Anyone up for some swimming when this is finished? Could be a great forum meet up!

...me! I'm not sharing a cubicle with Longhair tho :)

...me! I'm not sharing a cubicle with Longhair tho :)

I dont think anyone could share a cubicle with me - have you seen the size of em (and me for that matter)?

Old swimming baths?
Look nice but usually fucking freezing and difficult to use. i like to appreciate my 'heritage' fully clothed thank you very much.

From: http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/hod005544e/

http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/images/graphics/heritage-open-days-logo.gif

Victoria Baths and Swimmers Reunited
Hathersage Road , Chorlton on Medlock Manchester , Greater Manchester , M13 0FE

Description:
Edwardian swimming pool and Turkish Baths closed since 1993 but remarkably intact and ornate. Winners of the BBC Restoration programme in September 2003 and now being restored. There will be full access to restoration phase one which is now completed. Swimmers Reunited: A special event to bring together people interested in swimming. There will be archive material from Victoria Baths and we will have facilities to copy photographs and make recordings of your memories. Artist Ally Wallace’s Work Unfolds: Selected from over 50 artists he has been on site at Victoria Baths for just a few weeks. His work in progress will be exhibited for the four days.

Opening Times:
Thursday 11th September: 1100-1700
Friday 12th September: 1100-1700
Saturday 13th September: 1100-1700, Swimmers Reuntied event 1100-1700
Sunday 14th September: 1100-1700

Organised by:
Victoria Baths Trust

'Swimmers Reunited: A special event to bring together people interested in swimming.' :lol:

Heading into new waters

Victoria Baths was given a new lease of life when it won BBC2's Restoration programme, but it still has a long way to go

By Claire Shoesmith

Fifteen years after its official closure, Victoria Baths is almost £4m into an estimated £20m restoration project. The work done so far — the full external restoration of the Turkish baths and the whole of the front block of the building, as well as the roof of the front block and the clock tower — is a step in the right direction.

However, now that this first tranche of funding has been spent, it has a number of hurdles to overcome in terms of its building, design and perhaps most importantly, its finances.

“It might be a very long haul,” said project manager Gill Wright, whose work includes restoring the Turkish baths, three swimming pools and poolside changing facilities and spectator galleries. “Without doubt it's going to continue to be a big challenge but we are clear it warrants the investment.”

Victoria Baths, an Edwardian listed building in Longsight that in the 1900s provided the only opportunity for a “proper” bath for many people in the local area, came to prominence in 2003 when it won BBC 2's Restoration series and secured £3m from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

A further £450,000 came from English Heritage, £88,000 from the baths' owners — Manchester City Council —and £150,000 from the viewers who voted on the Restoration programme. Additional funding was raised locally.

All of this funding has since been used and the challenge for the Manchester Victoria Baths Trust, which in conjunction with the Friends of Victoria Baths, Manchester City Council and the trust's key funding bodies, including the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, run the site, is finding the next major instalment needed to continue with the project.

The intention had been that the preferred developer, Artisan Ship Canal Developments, would carry the project into its second stage by co-ordinating a mixed-use scheme, whereby the development of a hotel or offices on part of the site would offset some of the cost of the baths' restoration.

However, this has been hampered by the slump in the property market and after considering several other options, the second stage of the restoration is now on hold.

“Lots of different options have been considered but right now things have just stalled,” said Wright, adding that under the terms of the development contract, Manchester City Council is obliged to continue paying maintenance.

“As a result we can continue operating as we are, but things are unlikely to progress much further in the near future,” she said.

Despite this major set back, Wright remains upbeat. “In the long run the vision is to reopen the pools as it is all about swimming,” she said. “But in the short term, the goal is to fill the building with activities and make the most of it as it is.”

In fact, despite being only a fifth of the way through the project, Wright said there are some advantages to seeing the building in transition. “It is still useful for educational purposes as it is, and artists probably respond to it in the current state better than they would once it is complete,” she said.

In the first half of 2008, the site attracted more than 900 visits from school pupils, helped by a part-time education officer funded by English Heritage, and earlier this year it appointed its first artist in residence, thanks to a grant from Arts Council England. “This is another way of making the building appeal to a different audience,” said Wright. “It brings in younger people.”

In total, the baths, which were first opened in 1906 at a cost of £59,000 — at least three times the cost of a similar project at the time — today attracts about 10,000 visitors a year. They attend open days run by the baths themselves and also as part of National Heritage events, which are usually held on the first Sunday in each month.

The Trust has four employed members of staff, and the rest of the work — including guided tours and running the tea and gift shop areas during open days — is carried out by volunteers.

One option for continuing with the renovation and restoration of the baths could be to finish developing the Turkish baths, which comprise a series of interlinked tile-clad rooms that in their original state increased steadily in temperature as they got closer to the heat source, and get an outside operator in to run the site.

Wright said it would not actually take “too much more investment” to restore the Turkish baths to working order.

This could then be used by a private sector operator as a venue for spa treatments and other relaxation therapies. So far, though, the trust has not received any offers potential operators.

Moreover, although the current state of the building works means the baths themselves remain somewhat rough around the edges — art work is on display in two of the swimming bath basins and the third is covered over with a semi-permanent floor — there is potential to offer corporate hospitality (though only in the summer as the site has no heating) or filming opportunities. Indeed, part of the BBC's Life on Mars series was filmed at the baths.

“We get quite a lot of enquiries about corporate use,” said Wright. “People are definitely looking for a venue that's a bit different, but so far we have focused on the work that we have grant funding to do, such as educational events and open days. Now we need to look at expanding the other areas.”

http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080922/SUB/309229993/1009/toc/-/-/heading-into-new-waters