Caistor and District Community Trust (CDCT) has now secured total funding of £3million to see the long-awaited 2-4 Market Place renovation project begin in earnest.
Having been successfully awarded an increased Community Ownership Fund Levelling-Up grant of £500,000, and satisfied its key funder, the National Lottery Heritage Fund with a revised scope of works, it’s full steam ahead for this project* which promises to continue the reawakening of the Wold-edge market town of Caistor.
Working with the agreed principal contractor for the project, Messenger – part of the BCR Group, and the team who recently undertook and completed the cutting-edge conservation work at Lincoln Medieval Bishops’ Palace – Greenwood Projects – the firm that has supported 2-4 Market Place from day one with Graham Tait Project Managing – and AnotherKind Architects, CDCT is excited to officially get the renovations underway, as Neil Castle, company secretary of the Trust, explains.
“To say we’re are delighted to now have the funding to bring these buildings back to life, share their heritage and make them accessible for everyone in the process is an understatement,” said Neil.
“Our mission, not only with 2-4 Market Place but certainly with this project acting as a catalyst, is to improve the economic sustainability of our historic market town,” added Neil.
“Caistor has seen a recent boom in businesses, both up-scaling and taking up vacant units, so to be able to further add to this enterprise by providing opportunities for community activities, social space and to help bring additional tourism to the town is incredibly important to us as a Trust.
“The diverse and vibrant mixed-use development scheme will include the repair and conservation of the complex of historic buildings, transforming 2-4 Market Place into a space the whole community can be proud of and embrace as their own.”
Having been vacant for several years, and being noted on the buildings ‘at risk’ register as needing immediate attention, this funding comes at a vital time.
The restored buildings, in their full glory, will create spaces for retail units which could include a restaurant/cafe, a community space for functions, exhibitions and other community activities, self-catering holiday lets, spaces that can be used as offices or arts-and-crafts business units, storage for local archival materials and a space for the Trust to work from.
With a revised plan now in place, prioritising the completion of the market square facing shopfronts of 2, 3 and 4 Market Place, the community room above number 4, two holiday lets above numbers 2 and 3, the new core service building and the restored courtyard, the continued collaboration between the Trust and its valued partners will support the aim to get work started by early May.
*Subject to the required paperwork being in place.
