Ryde Town Council has been awarded Project Viability Grants worth nearly £30,000 by The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) for Vectis Hall and St Thomas’s Chapel.
On Thursday last week, Historic England’s chief executive Duncan Wilson and Architectural Heritage Fund’s programme manager Gavin Richards visited Ryde to celebrate the completion of the first phase of Department and tour Ryde’s High Street Heritage Action Zone to see the progress being made.
Support for Ryde buildings
As previously reported, the two premises had fallen into disrepair, but plans are to repurpose them as new community hubs and a base for Ryde youth service, Network Ryde.
An earlier grant to Aspire Ryde for Trinity Buildings means the Architectural Heritage Fund has now invested in several of the town’s most important listed buildings.
High Street Heritage Action Zone funding
The funding builds on significant investment in Ryde as part of the four-year High Street Heritage Action Zone, worth £1.4million.
In recent months, HSHAZ funding from Historic England totalling £181,000 has been spent on helping Ryde’s heritage and laying the groundwork for substantial work to come. Grants include:
- St Thomas’s Church – £30,000 grant to Ryde Town Council to support transformation into a new home for their Network Ryde award winning Youth Service.
- Town Hall and Theatre – £40,000 Options Appraisal to develop evidence to inform future use of this key building
- Pedestrianisation improvements in the town centre – £13,000
- Trinity Buildings (Aspire Ryde) Preparing plans to improve paving, benches and street furniture in the high street – £40,000
And Government Culture Recovery Fund grants have been awarded to:
- St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church – £25,000
- Historic Ryde Society – £10,000
New shared by Gavin Richards on behalf of the Architectural Heritage Fund. Ed
