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Over the past 2 decades, the Mechanics Institution has fallen into a very serious state of disrepair.
Last summer the owner submitted plans to convert the building into a hotel. Similar to the hotel plans submitted over a decade ago which were refused by the council, but granted by the then goverment. No hotel was built or any action taken then, and I believe the same will happen now (or rather not :-). Another red herring to delay.
The Hotel plans submitted would mean splitting
Britain's oldest standing theatre and the other big rooms up to
make room for hotel accommodation.
Although this is a good idea in theory to some, do we really want
to completely change a valuable historical asset to our town (city)?
In the English Heritage publication by Crispin Keith called
"A teachers guide to using listed buildings", he says;
"...It is also clear that there are some buildings which
cannot easily be reused sympathetically or economically, in which
case a deep freeze solution may be preferable to demolition."
This may well work for the Mechanics, as a deep freeze solution (mothballing) would mean closing off the building to the elements and carrying out the necessary vital repairs to stop it falling further into disrepair. Another more "community friendly" alternative than a hotel should surely be possible?
The building is rather an odd architectural mix, and appears to be a cross between a grand university entrance hall, an airport control tower and a scaled down cathedral-buildings, may I add, which most Cities have! :-)
The original designs were by Isambard Kingdom
Brunel.
Last year the storms took out the remaining windows (at least
there's little danger of falling glass now, eh ?-) and removed a
few more slates of the already leaking roofs. Now the roofs have
gaping holes making repairs harder and damage by wind more
certain.
A couple of years ago the building was up for sale. Any buyers? Well, I am the only person I know of that made a bid, £1000. An unacceptable bid, I have heard. After all the damage the owner has allowed happen, I think not!
During the 1998 Annual General Meeting of the
NMIP Trust, Mike Welch said he was in favour of the council
issuing a Charge Purchase Order. I agree and
believe this is the only way forward to save the building.
The council has stated, in a letter to the NMIP Trust in 1998
that they were positive about issuing a Charge Purchase Order as
long as the Trust showed it had enough resources and finances to
manage the property.
In fact the Council set a precedent for doing just this by issuing a CPO on
the old Rectory in Old Town, which is now fully restored.
In 2001 the council did the same on a 3 bedroom house that had been left for
over 10 years and was infested with rats. It's now a Council house.
Following is such an alternate proposal, that we would like Swindon
council to evaluate.
The Proposal
I propose to form a property management company with 250 shares (votes).
(Eg. the Mechanics ltd.)
The shares would be in allotments of;
10 lots of £1000 => 15 shares (votes)
100 lots of £100 => 1 shares (vote)
We are appealing for pledges for these shares (no money up front:-).
The idea is to show the council that £20,000 can be raised by
the people of Swindon.
We could prove to the council that at least 110 ratepayers are
willing to put their money where their mouth is.
Maybe then Swindon's MPs would lend their weight to our cause.
The council could then issue that CPO they say they are positive
about, and then sell the building to the company owned by the
people of Swindon and run by the people of Swindon.
I think the sum of £1 is the building's official value, leaving
the company £19,999 as start capital to begin bringing life back
to the Mechanics and leaving the building in the ownership of the
people of Swindon in the spirit it was built!
That is the gist of it, now for the details:
This company would be run on a non-profit basis for 15 years. The
building would then be offered back to the council in a better
state of repair
(hopefully restored to its former glory) for ¾ of the then
official value.
If the council did not take over the building at that time the
shareholders would decide whether to keep or sell the building on.
Although there will be no dividends this is essentially also a
high-risk investment as a £100 share could turn into a very
valuable piece of paper.
The company will offer the council the old Mechanics Library rent
free for 15 years if it maintains that part of the building and
moves the library to the Mechanics. (I'd like to point out that
the Mechanics is closer to the New Swindon Campus (North Star) than the present
Libary and within walking distance of the Outlet Village shopping Centre, the
Brunel Shopping Centre and Car park.
Similar free leases of 5 years would be offered to charities,
schools, and council departments (e.g. Age Concern, NMIPT, etc. :-).
Free leases of 1-3 years would be offered to people starting new
small businesses (cafes, art shops, etc). When free leases ran
out the rent would be ½ that of the market rate to keep the
building occupied.
Why not visit Fred Dibnah's site, and help me convince Fred's program editors and the steeple jack himself to take an interest in the Mechanics.
Why Fred looks even like Brunel in his hat? ;-)
The other parts of the building are in more serious danger of
irreparable damage and the company would use its resources to
find local commercial backing (Intel, Nationwide, Rover, Honda,
Intergraph, Motorola, National Power) to make the necessary
repairs to stop further damage.
Initially the only part of the building usable is the part that
was last used by a Youth Club ca 15 years ago. This is the part
that thinks its a grand University entrance Hall, and held the
old Mechanics reading Hall and Library. It's the only "normal"
part of the Mechanics with a "normal" roof and the
easiest to make "habitable" as it's the least derelict.
I suggest
It would attract people walking from the Town Centre to the Great
Western Village and I believe be an excellent place for a student/internet
cafe!
One such 'internet cafe' company I would like to get interested
is 
If Fred or someone with a public profile takes an interest so will some companies.
(Just basic heating and repairing the windows with plastic
sheeting would help, a couple of dehumidifiers would help dry out
the building and slow the dry rot, which actually dies if it
dries :-)
If there are any readers that would like to be part of this and would like to make a pledge for a share, please contact me so that I can hold a tally of total pledges (preferably online and as a last resort, by phone).