A CAMPAIGN group hoping to save Ayr’s crumbling Station Hotel has published what it says is a “game-changing” report on the condition of the building and the prospect of rescuing it from the wrecking ball.
SAVE Britain’s Heritage (SAVE) says the report – by a leading UK buildings conservation engineer - has found the building is in “much better condition” than previously thought, and that it is “perfectly practical” to repair and bring the whole building back into use.
The group has also published a second report estimating the cost of repairing and restoring the building to be £9.2 million –compared to a £6.6m cost estimated by the council for demolishing the southern section of the building alone.
SAVE is now calling on South Ayrshire Council to reconsider its decision of 2022 to pursue demolition of the hotel’s south wing, and to include the report’s findings and costings in all discussions on the future of both the hotel and the authority’s emerging Ayr Town Centre Plan, due to be published in 2024.
It comes ahead of a special full council meeting this Friday, September 15, to consider the building’s future and the short-term steps the authority says are needed to protect the public.
Friday’s meeting will ask councillors to approve the spending of £664,000 from the authority’s reserves on the ‘encapsulation’ of the building, in scaffolding and protective sheeting, until the end of May next year – plus a further £80,000 on “protective traffic management measures for the encapsulation”.
The council has already spent £500,000 from its uncommitted reserves on keeping the ‘encapsulation’ measures in place until the end of this month.
The new report on the north and south ranges of the hotel, by leading UK buildings conservation engineer Ed Morton of The Morton Partnership, states: “It is perfectly practical to repair and bring the building back into long-term sustainable use. Whilst repairs are clearly required, the types of work required are not unusual for historic buildings and perfectly practical.”
Mr Morton – who prepared his 113-page report after carrying out a two-day inspection of the building, mostly from the outside, in June, with the council’s knowledge and assistance – concludes that the scaffolding around the building “has done its job stopping major water ingress, halting the progression of existing fabric damage and significantly reducing new and potentially critical deterioration occurring.”
A spokesperson for SAVE said: “We urge the council to use this game-changing report to open up fresh thinking and discussions with Transport Scotland and other stakeholders to conserve and regenerate the station hotel along with ‘fit for purpose’ railway facilities.
“Taking forward a restoration option, which would not have to cost much more than a complex and disruptive demolition, would mean the town of Ayr would be left with an asset, not just an empty site that would quickly become an eyesore in itself.”
The group says that while demolition costs would have to be met fully from the council’s reserves, restoration could be carried out in partnership with other groups – and could open up external sources of funding, including both the Scottish and UK governments.
Henrietta Billings, director of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, said: “This report opens up new options for a town centre renaissance.
“All the options for the future of Ayr Station Hotel considered by the authorities up to now have assumed the building is beyond repair, but this game-changing report shows that this is not the case.
“With a repair and re-use plan the people of Ayr get to keep a much-cherished landmark, while the space created at ground-floor level can be used to re-house much-needed station facilities – currently housed in shabby portacabins.”
Mr Morton said: “In more than 30 years’ experience working on saving and adapting historic buildings to bring them into new use, I have seen many buildings in much poorer condition than Ayr Station Hotel, which have been retained and given vibrant new life.
“I sincerely hope that this extremely fine Victorian structure can be saved as a new gateway landmark for Ayr, allowing for station improvements and new uses.”
This Friday’s full council meeting will be told that “no new feasible use or user has been identified with sufficient capital to enable the restoration of the dangerous building”.
A report prepared for Friday’s full council meeting by Chris Cox, the authority’s assistant director for planning and development, warns that there is still no money available to fund the demolition of the hotel’s southern section.
Mrs Cox’s report says that two court actions are ongoing in a bid to recover more than £1.3 million in costs from the building’s absentee owner, a Mr Ung, through the British and Malaysian legal systems.
Her report adds: “It is proposed that officers present a further update report to council in February 2024 following the council’s experts presenting a detailed programme of works involved in the demolition of the southern wing of the former Ayr Station Hotel and the implications this may have for the integrity of the remainder of the former Ayr Station Hotel.
"The report to be presented in February 2024 will also provide legal advice on statutory powers and process and statutory notices that require to be followed under different scenarios.”
Two 17-year-old boys were arrested and charged in connection with a fire in part of the building at the end of May.
In June the Advertiser spoke to architect Robin Ghosh, who was brought up in the town, about his belief that the former hotel could be saved and restored.
Mr Ghosh led the transformation of the town’s Seafield House – which was left a gaping shell after a devastating fire in 2008 and where a development of new luxury flats was unveiled in May.
The reports commissioned by SAVE - and the special council meeting - come after South Ayrshire Council unveiled early proposals this summer to transform the area around Burns Statue Square outside the station, creating a new transport interchange, in a vision based around the demolition of the hotel's southern wing.
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