The Station case study

The Station occupies an obsolete railway terminus, sympathetically restored by the Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust, with support and funding from Yorkshire Forward’s Renaissance Market Towns (RMT) programme.

As a new focal point of the local community in Richmondshire, it has created around 40 new jobs and is home to:

• a café/restaurant
• cinemas
• an art gallery
• a heritage centre
• a bakery, a cheese-maker, chocolatier, ice cream parlour and a micro-brewery
• offices
• meeting and training spaces.

The Station has won many awards including:

• Action for Market Towns Award for Business and Economy, 2008
• Social Enterprise Awards 2008 (Yorkshire and Humber) for Innovation in Social Enterprise
• National Rail Heritage Awards 2008
• second only to St Pancras Station in the 2008 RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) Project of the Year Awards.

The old station

Richmond is an ancient market town in North Yorkshire, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It has a population of around 8,750 and is popular with tourists due to its commanding position over the River Swale.

The Station prior to renovation

The Eryholme-Richmond branch railway line began operating in 1846, carrying passengers, freight and military personnel to Catterick Garrison.

Richmond Station itself was built by York and Newcastle Railway Company, in a Tudor style designed by architect G T Andrews. Before its closure in 1969, Richmond Station was included at Grade II in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.

The Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust

The trust was set up as both a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity, with nine trustees. An executive group of four trustees manages the station building. Among the staff are a station manager and three part-time assistants, who are supported by trust members and
volunteers.

The Station, prior to renovation

The project results

The restoration of the building, through the Richmondshire Building Preservation Trust, has transformed a disused, Grade II* Listed building into a vibrant hub of the community.

The Station is generally open from 9am to 11pm. In addition to the café/restaurant, cinemas, art gallery, heritage centre, various retailers, offices and meeting and training spaces, there are rooms available for events. Room booking prices vary from £45 to £250, with different packages available and discounts for non-profit organisations.

It also provides community and business services including audio-visual equipment, photocopying, printing, on-site catering and Wi-Fi.

Key successes

• The project saved a valuable Grade II* listed building, and created up to 40 new jobs.
• Its activities and recreational spaces meet established local needs at affordable prices.
• The Station includes a small number of commercial operations, sufficient to bring in an income to maintain the project and to subsidise community activities on-site.
• This high-quality visitor experience attracts large numbers of visitors, whose spend provides the tenants, and therefore the building management, with income.

Lessons learnt

• The project had a clear and visionary champion for leading its delivery – this was fundamental to its success.
• The creation of a clear legal structure (a building preservation trust, a company limited by guarantee, and charitable status) assisted the project team in terms of providing credibility to funders.
• The formal structure also helped to establish clear roles and responsibilities for the project
• team. Having a strong, focused and motivated team was vital in moving the project along – people make things happen, not committees.
• The team benefited from seeking and taking up offers of advice and help from other community groups which had been involved in the delivery of similar projects.
• Project costs should not be underestimated – particularly in terms of additional requirements where the general public is to have access.The need to be realistic with costings (both initial and ongoing costs/revenues) has to be balanced with the positive opportunities for anticipated outputs and outcomes. This is key to presenting a clear case to potential funders; ie, it can be easy to present an overly pessimistic view.
• Balancing the mostly inflexible timescales for spending allocated funding is difficult. As a result, it is beneficial to have design options which can be costed and tendered so that if the funding position changes, alterations to the scheme can be agreed easily and implemented at short notice.
• It is vital to keep an open and active dialogue with funders as the project progresses, keeping them informed about progress and costs.

More about this success story

Further information can be found at www.thestation.co.uk 

Alternatively, contact:
The Manager
The Station
Richmond
DL10 4LD
01748 850123
stationinfo@thestation.co.uk

Jacquie Bolton
Yorkshire Forward
Spitfire House
Aviator Court
Clifton Moor
York
YO30 4GY
01904 696711
jacquie.boulton@yorkshire-forward.com