Artist impressions of the Jerwood Gallery
This page contains the following information about the Stade Masterplan and Jerwood Gallery:
Back to top of page...
On Monday 09 June 2008, our Cabinet gave its support for a new art gallery and facilities on the Stade. We have now secured £2m from the Government's Sea Change fund towards this project and 2009 should see some significant progress.
We'll be working with East Sussex County Council, the Foreshore Trust and other partners on other developments for the site, including relocating the coach and lorry park and building new toilets. The Jerwood Foundation is now working with architects on plans for its gallery with a view to opening in 2011.
Back to top of page...
Visit the Jerwood Gallery flickr site for up to date images of the build: www.flickr.com.
Back to top of page...
Hastings Borough Council (HBC), East Sussex County Council (ESCC) and the Jerwood Foundation are working together to transform the beachfront Stade coach and lorry park into a fantastic new public space for events, festivals and informal use, alongside a nationally significant new art gallery and community facilities. This is an exciting vision that already has strong local support and will bring huge benefits to Hastings and St Leonards.
The Jerwood Foundation is one of the leading private arts foundations and has invested in excess of £75m into the arts since 1991. Their website - www.jerwood.org gives full information about the Foundation's work.
The Jerwood Foundation has built up a substantial collection of 20th and 21st century British art that has never before been shown to the public. It wants to build a £4m gallery to house this collection and to show temporary exhibitions as part of the Jerwood Visual Arts programme which supports and showcases the best emerging artists working in the UK. The Jerwood Foundation sees the arts as part of education in the widest sense, and wants to create a public facility that will benefit local communities and enable access to art and culture of the highest quality.
Jerwood wanted to site their new gallery in a regional centre that has deprived communities and is undergoing regeneration, in order that the benefit of the new gallery would be maximized. Jerwood also wanted to create links to a strong local arts community. Hastings has been chosen as Jerwood's preferred location as it offers exceptional potential to meet these aims, and an inspirational site at the Stade.
Hastings Borough Council and many local people have felt for some time that a coach and lorry park is the wrong use for such an important historic site in the heart of the Old Town. The long-term vision of the council for a new public space at the Stade was an excellent fit with what Jerwood was looking for - a sympathetic central location, easily accessible on foot and by public transport. No other site offered such potential and, if the Stade were not progressed, Jerwood would go to another town, not another location in Hastings.
The gallery will only take up a small part of the site and the rest will be transformed into a fantastic new public space for events, new toilets, community café, and new community facilities in the refurbished Angling Club building. The new public space is as important as the gallery and will be designed to the highest standards. The project also includes redesigning the streets around the site to calm traffic, improve safety and provide wider pavements.
Eleven coach bays for setting down and picking up passengers will continue to be sited on the Stade, so there will be no loss of footfall to the Old Town. These bays will be used for overnight parking but HBC and ESCC are planning to create much more coach parking elsewhere in the town, some twenty one bays in Falaise Road, and eight (two more than the current six) in Sea Road. This was agreed by the Lead Member in January 2009. Plans for a coach-turning facility at the Harold Road/Bourne/Old London Road junction have now been dropped, a detailed analysis of coach traffic patterns in the summer of 2008 has shown that it is not necessary.
The Jerwood Foundation is covering all the costs of designing, building and running the art gallery in perpetuity. We have already secured £300,000 from East Sussex County Council towards the cost of the transport improvements, and another £650,000 from SEEDA (South East England Development Agency). We have also secured £2m from the Government's Sea Change fund that's specifically designed to help regenerate seaside resorts. Hastings Borough Council is contributing £1m towards the capital cost of the project.
Independent research has estimated that this project will create over 100 jobs and generate around £10m per year in the local economy, so this will help the whole community. It will also create educational opportunities for our children and young people, and the new public space will enable events of all sorts, from festivals to markets, music performances, Bonfire and Jack-in-the-Green, as well as informal use by local families. Hastings is the second most deprived seaside resort in the country, and the most deprived town in the south east. It may look pretty, but the town does have problems, and this investment will really help to change this.
The point of the project is to ensure that events like the Seafood and Wine Festival can continue by creating a purposely designed public space that can be used all year round for events. This would include existing favourites such as the award-winning Seafood and Wine Festival, the Classic Car Show, and the '999' event, and new events such a concerts, open air theatre, outdoor film shows, markets, perhaps even a Christmas market and ice-skating.
The options in the public exhibition and consultation in May included both keeping and replacing Tom's Cabin. However, the preferred option of those who responded, and also the preferred option of Hastings Borough Council, is to replace it with a high quality family café, with kitchens large enough to service the large open area we are creating. This option also maximises the open space available, something most people were very keen to see.
Better community facilities have been asked for in every consultation we have carried out in the Old Town. Originally we had intended to provide a new building for these, but, during the summer, the East Hastings Sea Angling Association offered to work with us to see if their facilities could be used. Initial feedback on this was positive, and detailed work is now underway to see how this might work in practice.
Rumours that the Council want to build on the fishing beach are completely wrong and in fact, part of this project is to upgrade the facilities for the fishing fleet and community, including the Winch Road and parking. We have been working closely with the fishermen on this - the town's fishing heritage is as important to visitors as it is to the people who work there, and there is absolutely no way the Council would want to destroy that.
Jerwood and Hastings Borough Council are keen to see the open space we are creating kept open, there is absolutely no intention now, or in the future, to build upon it. Indeed, this will be built into the legal agreement that will enable the site to be developed.
The Foreshore Trust own part of the site and are fully in favour of the proposals. They have been involved from the earliest stages and think that the project shows clear benefits for the local community and the fishing community.
Jerwood had indeed hoped that admission would be free but they have now been advised that, like most public or charitable art galleries, they have to charge for entrance in order to recover VAT. However, Hastings residents will get reduced price admission, and all money collected from local residents will be used to help fund 'outreach' work to benefit the local community. Many well-known art galleries, including Tate St Ives, charge for entrance but are still much-loved by the local community who see significant benefits.
We are sorry if you feel that you have not been asked to comment. We have tried our best to publicise the proposals and held a public exhibition in May, advertised with a double page spread in the Hastings Observer, leaflets distributed throughout the Old Town, and on local radio. At this consultation, 89% of respondents supported the principle of locating the Jerwood Gallery on the Stade and 60% supported the masterplan option that is now being developed. Local groups including residents, fishermen, local businesses, the arts community, and many others have been involved in an Advisory Group on the project all the way through and have contributed to the plans. We know that we can't reach everyone but we are trying our best and further consultations are planned. Please contact stadeimprovements@hastings.gov.uk if you have any questions or comments.
The Jerwood Foundation and Hastings Borough Council are consulting extensively with local groups on the gallery and plans for the open space and community facilities.
Jerwood's architects, HAT Projects, hope to submit a planning application in February 2009 in respect of the Gallery, and the Council's architects, Tim Ronalds Associates, expect to submit a planning application in March 2009 in respect of all of the other work on the site. Both applications are expected to be heard at the same Planning Committee in May.
There will be another public exhibition where everyone can comment on the design proposals for the gallery, the public space and community facilities at the end of the first week of March. This will take place at Hastings Arts Forum, Marina, from 11.00 - 19.30 on Thursday 05 March, in the Town Hall from 11.00 until 19.30 on Friday 06 March, and in the Fishermen's Museum, Rock-a-Nore road, on from 11.00 - 16.00 on Saturday 07 March.
If the plans for the project are approved by councillors, we aim to open the gallery and public space in June 2011. Please contact stadeimprovements@hastings.gov.uk if you want to make sure you are informed of the consultations.
The Jerwood Foundation has all its funding in place and is fully committed to the project. Hastings Borough Council and its partners area also fully committed. We have secured most of the funding and there is now a genuine momentum for seeing the project through.
Back to top of page...
In partnership with East Sussex County Council, we asked for your comments on our plans for pedestrian safety and traffic improvements for the junction of the A259 and Rock-a-Nore Road at The Stade, Hastings Old Town. The closing date for sending us comments was Friday 05 December 2008.
Please visit www.eastsussex.gov.uk for further information.
Back to top of page...
A detailed analysis of coach park usage during last Summer showed that the number of coaches visiting was far less than the capacity of the coach park, so we don't need as much replacement parking as we had originally planned. Falaise Road will now be the main coach parking area in town, providing 21 spaces, and we will now be providing just two additional coach parking bays in Sea Road.
And, in the Old Town, we have shown that we don't need to provide any kind of coach turning (the proposals for a 'roundabout' at the bottom of Old London Road were not well received locally!). Additional coach set down/pick up points will be provided in the Old Town, making a total of three bays on the south side (westbound) of the A259, eight on the north side (eastbound).
Back to top of page...
Consultants, HAT Projects, have developed a masterplan for the site following extensive consultation.
The masterplan was shaped by our brief, given to the consultants before the work began. It includes the gallery building, new toilet facilities, a new café, community centre and a large outdoor events space.
A preferred Option was identified ('Option C'). In this option, the gallery is on the east of the site and the café and toilets are at the opposite end, closer to the Flamingo arcades.
The Masterplan will now be used to guide developments by the Jerwood Foundation, the Council and its partners.
Back to top of page...
Five exhibitions were held in mid-May at sites in the Old Town, Town Centre and St Leonards to gather people's thoughts on the three options.
89% of respondents were in support of a new gallery on the Stade and 61% preferred Option C.
Back to top of page...
We are working on plans for our parts of the project while keeping pace with the Jerwood Foundation's timescales. The priorities are to commission designers to work on our behalf and make concrete plans to relocate the coach and lorry park.
You can read more about the way forward in the Cabinet Report from the meeting on 9 June.
Back to top of page...
Please contact us for further advice or information on any matter relating to the proposals for the Stade Masterplan and Jerwood Gallery.
Back to top of page...
This page last updated: 24/06/2010