£4m bid for old hospital revamp fails
A £4.3m funding bid to save and transform the historic Ancoats Dispensary has been rejected, campaigners have revealed.
The Grade II-listed former hospital on Old Mill Street was saved from demolition in 2011 and is the subject of an ambitious redevelopment project.
The ruling by the Heritage Lottery Fund, however, has thrown the entire scheme into doubt.
A trust working to preserve the dispensary said it’s been left ‘saddened and devastated’ by the decision, but vowed the battle for future funding would go on.
The building dates back to 1874 but has fallen into disrepair ever since the NHS left in 1988.
The Ancoats Dispensary Trust, a community-led group spearheading the restoration plans, said the bid was rejected because it was unsuccessful in raising around £800,000 in matchfunding required to unlock the £4.3m.
Now the trust is facing relinquishing ownership of the building by the end of next month.
Trevor MacFarlane, chairman of ADT and Ancoats Dispensary Limited, called the decision a ‘big blow.’
“The trust is not giving up,” he said. “We will regroup and look at as many alternate ways of saving the building as possible.
“The dispensary is a unique heritage asset in Manchester and it would be a tragedy if it went the way of so many of Manchester’s heritage buildings before it.”
The trust took control of the Victorian building in 2015.
The plans would see the landmark turned into a ‘contemporary’ community space, with a focus on mental health, creative businesses, volunteering and meeting spaces for locals. The ground floor would see a new community cafe, while the storey above would include a network of meeting spaces and offices.
Amy-Grace Whillans Welldrake, an ADT board member, said the trust had already been awarded £770,000 from the Fund after raising £55,000 in matchfunding.
She said: “We are saddened and devastated by this decision as we have not only worked tirelessly in preventing the demolition of the dispensary, with a vigil lasting four years, but have created what we believe is a rigorous business plan and a sustainable vision for a new re-purposed dispensary.
“Having supported us with the stage one grant, it’s a shame that we have not qualified for their all-important stage two bid, which would have sealed the dispensary’s future.”
The trust said it had a number of applications in with potential funders and had made approaches to ‘high net worth’ individuals to champion the project.
Opened to provide medicine to impoverished residents, the building was formerly known as the Ancoats Hospital and Ardwick and Ancoats Dispensary, but shortened to Ancoats Hospital. The Victorian Society listed the dispensary in 2011 as one of the 10 most at risk buildings in England and Wales.