Nottingham City Council has approved a further £110,000 of grant-funded urgent maintenance works at Wollaton Hall, as the historic building remains on the Heritage at Risk Register because of a backlog of repairs.
The decision allows the council to extend its existing contract with Midland Conservation Ltd for the final phase of a programme of urgent repairs at the hall.
The works are intended to help meet the council’s statutory and contractual responsibilities and improve the condition of the building by making it wind and watertight.
Wollaton Hall is on the Heritage at Risk Register primarily because of a backlog of urgent maintenance repairs.
The council was awarded a MEND grant in 2023, which allowed some repair works to be carried out. Midland Conservation Ltd was appointed after a competitive tendering process, but the scope of the works was “pared back substantially” to fit within the funding available through that grant.
Further grant money has now been confirmed through the Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation programme and ringfenced to deliver the remaining urgent repairs that had been removed from the original scope.
The final phase includes ground floor and basement window repairs, masonry repairs following the removal of contemporary render, and work to make safe internal ceilings within the hall’s towers, which the document says have previously fallen through because of long-term water ingress.
The repairs form part of the National Portfolio Organisation programme approved by the council’s Executive Board in 2023. The decision states that because Midland Conservation Ltd originally tendered for the full scope of works, approval was sought for the company to continue delivering the repairs which had previously been taken out because of budget restrictions linked to the MEND funding.
The council considered taking no action, but rejected this option because it would mean the repair programme would not be completed, Wollaton Hall would remain at risk, and the cost of repairs would then fall to the council.
