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Marshall Street baths, Soho |
Grant scheme to save at-risk heritage
THEY range from a blues bar on Tin Pan Alley, Denmark Street, to a roof covering the platforms at Paddington Station, from a Mayfair mansion worth millions and to a Victorian swimming pool.
All are landmarks that conservation body English Heritage announced this week are on their list of historic buildings in such poor condition that they are at risk.
Helping to launching the London report, London mayor Boris Johnson announced a new £60million grant budget for property owners to help renovate at-risk buildings.
At a launch on the steps of a derelict town house in Swinton Street, King’s Cross, which dates from 1775, Mr Johnson claimed the scheme would save Westminster’s heritage and provide new housing.
He said: “There are 84,000 empty homes in London and we want to bring down the number to 1 per cent of the housing stock. I hope this will help save listed buildings and boost public housing.”
But he admitted the funds would stretch to renovating only around 100 properties.
He added: “It may seem a drop in the ocean but it is only part of a £4billion housing budget. This scheme offers two attractions: London has an amazing heritage and it would be sad if this was torn apart by buddleia. The second thing is we will make it very clear that we have the funds available and the properties, when renovated, must go into social renting accommodation.”
Among the landmarks in the West End considered to be at risk are the Marshall Street baths in Soho, which were closed in 1997. Owned by Westminster City Council, the building has lain empty while they put together a £20 million plan to bring it back into use. And the list has also highlighted the state of the Queen Eleanor memorial cross in Charing Cross. Chunks of stone have been falling off the monument, a Victorian copy of a much earlier edifice erected to commemorate Edward I’s first wife. |
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