Future High Street Fund and Heritage Action Zone Repurposing of Derelict and Vacant Buildings, Bacup

Rossendale Borough Council has been successful in its Expression of Interest (EoI) to the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) and High Street Heritage Action Zone Fund (HAZ) for Bacup Town Centre. The objective of the FHSF is to breathe new life into town centres and high streets in ways to help them evolve and adapt to changes in consumer demand and expectations. These changes are to be transformational; and ensure a thriving town centre able to sustain itself, its community and businesses. The HAZ aims to restore and revive historical high streets through building restoration works to retain the charm and character of buildings whilst making our high streets welcoming, accessible and bustling places.

To progress with the next phase of grant assessment the Council is now required to develop a fully costed and detailed design plan for each of the targeted buildings within the FHSF and HAZ applications. These will be used to secure capital investment from the FHSF and HAZ in support of the proposals and strategic ambition outlined in the respective EoI's.

There are a number of significant vacant and derelict buildings within the Bacup Town Centre that have a hugely detrimental impact on the Town Centre. Most of these building have been vacant for a number of years despite the Councils efforts to enforce against owners where necessary and possible having regarding to policy and legislation.

The FHSF and HAZ are both opportunities to transform these buildings. One of these buildings has been identified through the Bacup 2040 Vision for demolition and the land earmarked for new development. There are another three, substantial, derelict buildings and a high number (26%) of vacant premises within the town centre boundary with a high percentage of underused upper floors all of which require significant restoration and repurposing for a productive end use.

There have been initial investigations with regards to costs for repurposing for some of the targeted buildings during the EoI stage and the successful Bidder will be expected to use this information.

There are also a number of key gateway buildings within 1 kilometre of the town centre and it would be a requirement that these are also subject to the requirements set out in this Tender with development funded separately.

Individual commissions would need to be undertaken to asses each of the buildings and to establish the funding gap and develop key end-use proposals for each of the buildings.