Listed Winter Gardens Renovation on the Cards

Great Yarmouth Borough Council has finished the detailed designs for restoring the Grade II-star listed Winter Gardens on the town's Golden Mile and says it is ready to appoint a main contractor.

The dilapidated structure is the last Victorian glasshouse still standing on a UK seaside promenade and appears on Historic England's Buildings at Risk Register. The council has worked on the designs with partners such as Historic England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, the John Innes Centre in Norwich and the University of Cambridge Institute of Sustainability.

The council is targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating and wants the project to lower running costs over the building's life, raise its value and improve the experience for visitors. Original features such as cast and wrought ironwork will be restored, and missing details of the timber screens reinstated. Procurement has started, with an enabling works package expected to begin later this year.

Council leader Cllr Carl Smith said the authority had set very high standards and wanted the Winter Gardens to become a nationally important landmark at the centre of the town's life, economy and heritage.

Iain Robertson, executive director for major projects, said the team had spent six months developing the designs with its partners. He described the scheme as complex and significant, with saving the building from further decay as the priority, and said the aim was also to create a year-round attraction with free access for local people, supported by an ambitious planting strategy.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has committed £12.3 million to the project, and the Government's Town Deal Fund £4m.

Source: UK Property Forums, original article (18 January 2025)