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STRUTTS Business and Community Centre

Trevor Griffin‘s "Discussion" concept.

This was proposed by Trevor Griffin, the Chair of the Strutt School sub-group of the Belper Civic Forum as an illustration of how the building might be developed for mixed commercial and community use. It is intended for discussion, it is not a firm proposal.

The main features of the plan are as follows:

• The main hall (10), which takes up two storeys, is a publicly accessible area that would be a reception, meeting point, exhibition and display area by day and a performance space in the evenings.
• The former playground would become a landscaped car park with the new main entrance on the east side in the centre of the imposing façade.
• The entrance to this car park would be from Gibfield Lane either via an existing vehicle right of way over the adjacent property, or if this were not feasible, via a new entrance through the railings that would be reorganised to suit.
• Two rooms beside the hall (13 and 14) might be in mixed use. One could be a kitchen/refreshment/café for the whole building available at all times when required. The adjacent yard would become a café courtyard with tables in the summer. The other room might be a meeting room by day and a changing room for performers by night.
• The rooms in the north and south "wings" were originally separate buildings and still have their own entrances and facilities. The north wing has had education offices upstairs (19 and 20) and a band practice room downstairs (1). The south wing has two very important rooms that would be of value for community use namely the gymnasium (17) and the library (26) which has a beautiful panelled interior and fine stained glass windows. In this proposal these wings are kept exclusively for community use.
• The playroom classroom, which has also been in community use recently, could also be reserved for this purpose as a separate unit.
• The rest of the building would be let out commercially; this scheme creates relatively large blocks of rooms that could be attractive for this purpose. It also shows one large room (25) that might be set up as large meeting/ conference room so that it either be used by the various business or community users when required, or let out as a function room.
• The scheme also shows the house in the grounds becoming the home of a residential caretaker. The existing car park is shown being developed with an access from Derby Road. This development would help pay for the high restoration and conversion costs of the main building. It could either remain part of the Strutts Business and Community Centre or be disposed of to achieve this subsidy. The existing lawned garden would be the setting for a new building and the wild life garden would be retained as such for community use.