We are delighted that the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) have awarded £10m towards the restoration of the Winter Gardens in Great Yarmouth. The project will return the magnificent structure to a year-round attraction, with a botanic garden brimming with plants to reflect the town's historic trading links, restaurant and cafe areas, and a new first floor with galleries, viewing areas and education space.
Burrell Foley Fischer undertook a Feasibility Study, to support the application by Great Yarmouth Borough Council to the NHLF for a Heritage Horizons Award to rescue and repurpose the Grade II* listed Winter Gardens. The objective was to investigate / test the possible future activities within the Winter Gardens alongside a developed Business Plan to secure this significant building for the community and future generations. We also reviewed how this site would sit within the long-term strategic objectives of the Seafront Development.
Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens ‘is the last surviving seaside Victorian cast iron and glass winter gardens in the country. The structure has an unusual prominent, tiered lantern and good quality decorative treatment to the exterior and interior cast iron frame. When constructed it was one of the three largest cast iron and glass seaside winter gardens in England. It represents the culmination of Victorian cast iron and glass design and technology, of which Paxton’s Crystal Palace was a milestone, and demonstrates the engineering achievement and versatility of such structures. Although some of the glazing and window heads have been replaced, it is largely intact. It has considerable group value with the Edwardian entertainment architecture of Great Yarmouth’s seaside resort.’
The Winter Gardens will be a powerful commercial contributor to the regeneration of Great Yarmouth’s seafront and an innovative, exemplar, environmental project. The restored venue will have two coherent and integrated parts:
Engaging all generations in an exploration of environmental resilience and sustainability through an interpreted and innovative planting scheme.
Providing a food and drink offer with a commercial operator partner.
