If you’ve ever been through Great Yarmouth, you’ll be familiar with the spectacular but incredibly run-down glasshouse that overlooks its promenade. The Norfolk town’s Winter Gardens is the last surviving Victorian glasshouse on a seaside promenade in the whole of the UK. That’s the kind of thing that deserves to be preserved, right?
Once serving as a ballroom and exhibition space, the Gardens originally opened in Torquay in 1878 before moving to Great Yarmouth in 1904. It eventually shut in 2008 over safety concerns and has sat empty and rusting ever since. But now there’s a project dedicated to returning the Grade II building to its former magnificence and reviving its role as the ‘People’s Palace’.
The revived space will feature indoor gardens, community areas, cafes and venues for leisure, entertainment and education. Work starts this spring, backed by a £12.3 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and an additional £4 million from the Government's Town Deal Fund. Overall the ambitious project is expected to cost around £18m.
Work will include the restoration of the building original features, including the cleaning and repainting of its detailed iron frame. The project is big into sustainability and will ensure that the building has ventilation, rainwater harvesting and heating via low-carbon sources.
Iain Robertson, who is leading the project for Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said: ‘The Winter Gardens, which is on the Historic England Buildings at Risk Register, is a bespoke and complex project of international and national significance.
‘The key objective to save the building from further deterioration - so time is of the essence.’
Carl Smith, leader of the council, added: ‘We have set incredibly high standards for work on the ambitious regeneration of the Winter Gardens.
‘With these detailed and cutting-edge designs, we are determined to ensure we have a nationally significant landmark building here on the seafront in Great Yarmouth that is at the heart of the town's life, economy and historical legacy’
It’s hoped all of that work will be finished by 2027. Here’s a look at what Great Yarmouth’s Winter Gardens could look like in just two years time.
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