Hillsborough Park Coach House
Sheffield, England
Age UK Sheffield
Grade II
Former Coach House restored as a community cafe as part of 'Gathering Ground' project
The Grade II listed coach house and stable block of Hillsborough House were built to serve the principal building when it was constructed in 1779 by local landowner Thomas Steade (1728-1793) and his wife Meliscent. Once situated in open countryside outside the city, the parkland and garden attached to the house now form Sheffield’s Hillsborough Park, a well-used green space within a densely populated urban area. Hillsborough House itself is now a public library. Owned by Sheffield City Council, the coach house was used for storing munitions during World War Two but has not been available for community use since that time.
Age UK Sheffield has now acquired the Old Coach House and converted it into a much-needed community café, as part of a wider project called the ‘Gathering Ground’ – a campus of facilities hosting a programme of activities open to the entire community, with a particular focus on ensuring accessibility for older people, people living with dementia and other long-term health conditions. Working in partnership with Sheffield-based community arts organisation RivelinCo, Age UK Sheffield has developed an intergenerational creative activity and event programme which will include woodwork, printmaking, theatre, music and dance, arts and crafts, gardening, creative writing, a choir, a cinema club and a repair shop.
In 2018, an AHF Project Viability Grant enabled the charity to undertake a viability appraisal, including a condition survey and a community consultation. This was followed, later in the year, by a Project Development Grant to cover the cost of design work required to secure planning permission and listed building consent, as well as VAT advice and legal advice to assist with the acquisition. This funding was matched with a Resilient Heritage grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The early grants from AHF were vital in developing a viable business proposal for the project. Age UK went on to raise £1 million for the capital project, including a further £581,500 Heritage Enterprise grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
https://www.ageuk.org.uk/sheffield/
AHF Funding
Project Viability Grant - £6,881 (2018)
Project Development Grant - £10,000 (2018)
Image Credits
Steve Chu