Project to revitalise old Northumberland town

Jan 12 2010 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

WORK to transform an historic Northumberland eyesore into a community asset is on course for completion later this year.

A redundant 240-year-old granary at Dewar’s Lane in Berwick is being transformed into a 42-bed youth hostel, an exhibition gallery, meeting rooms and a bistro with courtyard seating, at a cost of £4.7m.

Built in 1769, the Grade II listed granary – said to have a lean greater than the famed Tower of Pisa – was used for the storage of grain, linseed and grass seeds until 1985. Since then, it has stood derelict and decaying.

The Berwick Preservation Trust took it over from the local council and began planning how it could be brought back into use as an attraction that could generate jobs for local people six years ago, with the current proposals emerging three years ago.

The trust pulled together the funding and work began last January. Now, M&J Ballantyne Ltd, the contractor who is carrying out the overhaul, has completed the main external construction work.

This has seen a new steel frame inserted into the six-storey building, which leans 1.2m, in order to stabilise it.

A new annexe, which will provide accommodation for staff and the disabled, has also been built.

The organisations that will operate in the granary can now gain access and begin internal work. Interpretive panels are also to be put up to show how the granary operated and explain its significance to Berwick’s history and heritage, including one on a rail line within the site and the part it played in the whole operation.

All work should be completed by the autumn of this year and it is hoped the site will be open to the public early in 2011.

The chairman of the granary project and vice chairman of the trust, Ian Douglas, said of the project: “It is really trying to revitalise the old part of the town, down the quayside, and to bring back into current activity part of the old industrial heritage of the town.

“The building was in a terrible state: it had not been used for about 30 years, it is a listed building, it could not be knocked down, but it was falling more and more into disrepair.

“If we had not been able to pull this together, the people who owned it would have had no option other than to spend £1m to stabilise the structure.

“This was a way that resolved the issues to the benefit of the town.”

Finance for the project has come from One North East, via the Northumberland Strategic Partnership, the Government’s Sea Change programme, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Northern Rock Foundation, the former Berwick Borough Council, Northumberland County Council, the Youth Hostel Association and English Heritage.

There has also been a host of donations from charitable trusts and individuals.

A time capsule will be buried in the grounds in the summer by children from Berwick’s two middle schools.

A topping out ceremony was due to be held on the roof of the granary yesterday to mark the completion of external work.

However, it was postponed, possibly until next Monday, as it was considered to be unsafe to have people on the roof in the snow and ice.