The following is the Executive Summary of the Options Appraisal conducted by the Prince's Regeneration Trust into potential options for the future use of Shambellie House
1. Executive summary
The Prince’s Regeneration Trust (PRT) was commissioned by Dumfries & Galloway Council (D&GC), in conjunction with Scottish Government and National Museums Scotland (NMS), to identify and assess potential options for the reuse of Shambellie House, New Abbey, in Dumfries & Galloway. Shambellie House operated as the National Museum of Costume until February 2013, when it was closed due to high operating costs and difficult general financial climate.
The work on this appraisal took place in the period from August 2013 to March 2014.
As part of the project, we have gathered and analysed background information, as well as assessed the condition and significance of Shambellie House and its capacity for change. A workshop with key stakeholders was held in October 2013. The ideas regarding potential new uses for Shambellie gathered at the workshop and through conversations with local people helped develop six options for reuse. These were substantiated by architectural drawings and outline assessments of capital costs. In parallel, we carried out market research into comparable properties and uses from the Dumfries & Galloway area and further afield, spoken to potential operators / end users and completed a financial appraisal of the options. Finally, our team assessed the six options based on 13 criteria and developed recommendations for two preferred options. This report summarises the results of this work.
The client brief for the assessment required options that ‘maximise the building’s potential and contribution to the life of the local community’ including ‘cultural use in the widest sense, for example, educational use, social enterprise, heritage, local community use, etc.’
We have therefore focused mainly on four options that have the potential to deliver benefits to the community and bring about increased visitor numbers and visitor spend to New Abbey and the wider area. However, we have also included the valuation, budget costs and other information related to two options based on returning the building to domestic use and sale on the open market. All options are included in the final assessment matrix in Section 14.1
1.1 Summary of options and the assessment criteria
The four “non-sale” options covered by the assessment are:
The options have been assessed using a number of criteria related to the project brief and key issues that came out of the stakeholder workshop in October 2013 and subsequent research by PRT. These are related to:
1.2 The preferred options
The assessment based on the above criteria resulted in two options scoring significantly higher than the rest – Option 1a (Holiday Let & Community) (the highest) and Option 2b (Art/Outdoor Centre) (second highest). We recommend these two options for further consideration by the client group.
Option 1a (Holiday Let & Community) scores overall highest, due to the multiple social and economic benefits it brings to the area and the potentially straight forward delivery. With a budget cost of £430,000, and an annual surplus reaching £10,000 by Year 7 it is a less financially attractive than other non-sale options. This is mainly due to the increased expenditure associated with the management of the community uses. This could be mitigated by seeking external funding for the community centre manager. Securing a reliable end-user for the basement space would be necessary. We recommend that community uses related to visual arts, craft, landscape natural heritage and horticulture, should be encouraged, to tie in with existing resources and established markets in the area. A well-established existing trust is interested in this option so the realisation of the project could be relatively straight forward.
Option 2b (Art/Outdoor Centre) is an attractive proposition from an economic perspective and because it fits well with the area’s tourism strategy and offer. This option has a high budget cost but is expected to generate an annual surplus of over £46,000 by Year 7 of its operation. It provides ideal scope for creative activity, education and learning and would be highly desirable given Shambellie’s artistic history and the desire for this type of use to continue. Option 2b depends, of course, on securing an end-user with the capital to invest in conversion and confidence in the market for specific types of residential courses. Given Dumfries & Galloway’s demonstrated strengths in environmental art, landscape, craft, sculpture and other visual arts, Shambellie House could be very attractive to such an operator. Similarly, residential courses related to the outdoors, walking, cycling, horticulture, or field study of natural heritage would be equally well-suited in this location.
1.4 Conclusions and recommendations
Shambellie House is a good building of its type, relatively unaltered and in a very attractive setting. The character of the House and the setting should be preserved and both preferred Options in this appraisal would secure this, as well as preservation of the plan and overall character of the House. Through progressing conversations with stakeholders further, there is the opportunity to develop either of the two preferred options to a positive conclusion.
It is recommended that Scottish Government pursues a disposal strategy based on the transfer of the property to an existing or new trust at no cost as their preferred option. The rationale for pursuing a trust-based solution is:
As part of the conditions of any transfer of the property to a trust, the body should be given sufficient period (5 years) to run the property and try to achieve viability. If, after this pre- agreed period, the trust is unable to run the property at a surplus, it could then be transferred back to Scottish Government to sell on the open market. Sale of the property should therefore only be seen as a fall-back position if preferred options fail.
It is important that the preferred (non-sale) options are given the maximum chance of success, because of the social and economic benefits they could bring to the area. Crucially, they should be supported by the raising of an endowment to cover the on-going long-term maintenance and repair costs, which may not be met through the business.
Finally, it is essential that the consultation and involvement of the local community, initiated through the work on this Options Assessment, should continue. We recommend that an update is circulated on the findings presented in this report with opportunity for feedback and further development.