Funding withdrwawn for iconic heritage station

[saaby93]

Iconic building for Great central museum

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershir...

[Flying Phil]

It is a very surprising and unexpected decision by the HLF.
I hope that a way forward can be found, as the idea for a Midlands rail museum attached to, what is a 9 mile, and will be an 18 mile, preserved railway is really great concept and a lot of work for it has already been completed.

[Tempest_5]

Could they do a rail equivalent of the Vulcan to the Skies campaign ? Given the cost of building the "Tornado" locomotive a few years ago there would seem to be potential support out there.

One thing though, does this mean that York would close?

[andy97]

Tempest_5 said:

One thing though, does this mean that York would close?

I assumed that it was to house the "reserve collection" from York??????

[Riley Blue]

Tempest_5 said:

Could they do a rail equivalent of the Vulcan to the Skies campaign ?

I sincerely hope not, it's sat outside now.

[The Mad Monk]

Another reason why I have stopped doing the Lottery.

If you want to build it - then build it - but with your own money - not mine.

[Robertj21a]

andy97 said:

I assumed that it was to house the "reserve collection" from York??????

I think it referred to becoming an 'overflow' museum for York.

[Flying Phil]

The Mad Monk said:

Another reason why I have stopped doing the Lottery.

If you want to build it - then build it - but with your own money - not mine.

A good point, but I thought that a condition of having a National lottery was that it would be used to support "good " causes and part of that was Heritage....and what is a museum if not Heritage?
Also the HLF was only(!) going to provide half the cost so the other partners, GCR, NRM and local council were funding the other half. It would be good to have more background on exactly why the decision has been made at this stage........

[saaby93]

Whats veryone think of the style of the building? DId that help the funding?

[Flying Phil]

saaby93 said:

Whats veryone think of the style of the building? DId that help the funding?

There was a design competition with 6 different schemes and that "Floating boxes" concept was the winner. I understand the HLF had said they wanted a "Significant" building that was not a converted railway style building. So the design was largely what the HLF wanted....

[saaby93]

Flying Phil said:

There was a design competition with 6 different schemes and that "Floating boxes" concept was the winner. I understand the HLF had said they wanted a "Significant" building that was not a converted railway style building. So the design was largely what the HLF wanted....

It does look very 60s
what were the other designs like?

[Flying Phil]

The other designs were ranging from boring to impractical, with no one design that everybody thought "Wow". It is a difficult site with a working railway station (Leicester North) on the West side. A very large underground water main on the South side, a cemetry and allotment on the East side.

[Dabooka]

Robertj21a said:

I think it referred to becoming an 'overflow' museum for York.

A bit like Shildon is. Great place, my young lad loves it

[Riley Blue]

Flying Phil said:

The other designs were ranging from boring to impractical, with no one design that everybody thought "Wow". It is a difficult site with a working railway station (Leicester North) on the West side. A very large underground water main on the South side, a cemetry and allotment on the East side.

All six shown here - I'm underwhelmed...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershir...

[Flying Phil]

Thanks for that Riley Blue. Interestingly it is dated Oct 2016 and states that opening would be 2021.
The winning design has been chosen and much preparation work has been done - the allotments have had a new access road built and fence line erected by the council. Yet the HLF say that the timescale may be delayed.........one reason for the cancelled funding......

There has been a museum curator, appointed for about a year now, who has organised many volunteers to help select exhibits and museum content, The GCR and Council have spent a lot of time and effort already in planning and contractors (Mace) had been appointed.
The GCR has been established for over 40 years and the HLF have said they are well run and successful....yet they are concerned about the museum management plans.......

There appears to have been no indication of this decision before the announcement - hence the feeling of shock and surprise on the part of the Council and GCR.

[Fluid]

Dabooka said:

A bit like Shildon is. Great place, my young lad loves it

Locamotion in Shildon really is a great Museum. My Mother in Law's house overlooks it and quite a few of my wifes family volunteer there. We are staying at the MiL's for a few days over the xmas break, so will pay the usual visit every time we are up.

[Zad]

There does seem to be a trend in architecture of designers having a small number of designs that they roll out to every customer, shoe-horning their design into every contract no matter how appropriate it is, and for the clients to happily accept the Emperor's new clothes. From what I can see, some of the submitted designs were found in a filing cabinet that was locked in 1972. Although in this situation the customer basically wants a railway station which doesn't look like a railway station. Despite the public's fondness for railway stations.

[ATG]

Clearly this is the sort of project that the Heritage Lottery Fund sets out to back; that's why they offered money in the first place. Their decision to withdraw support is a vote of no confidence in the team trying to deliver the project, not the concept. The HLF have a load of experience with projects like this and are in a good position to make a dispassionate judgement of its chance of success as they aren't emotionally invested in it to the same extent as the enthusiasts behind the scheme, nor as politically invested as the local politicians supporting it. If they've felt obliged to withdraw funding it'll only be after raising serious concerns with the project team and having those concerns dismissed.

[Flying Phil]

" If they've felt obliged to withdraw funding it'll only be after raising serious concerns with the project team and having those concerns dismissed."
If that is the case why the big surprise from the Council and GCR? Or have we been kept in the dark.... despite the HLF policy of "transparency"? I know that not all HLF projects have been as successful as envisaged, but this one seemed to be on course for a good outcome on so many levels - I think we deserve to know a lot more.

[Simpo Two]

I'm not sure that something that hasn't been built yet qualifies for the title 'iconic'.

1980s: Turbo
1990s: Digital
2000's: Mega
2010's: Iconic
2020's?