Last week I was delighted to join Tracey Crouch MP, Minister for Sport, Tourism and Heritage and MP for Chatham and Aylesford, for the announcement of £4.8m Heritage Lottery Funding towards the £8m Fitted Rigging House project. The project aims to convert the Grade I Listed building into a resource that will unlock the future financial sustainability of the wider Historic Dockyard site.
The Fitted Rigging House built in 1793 is a huge building, but its underuse and continuous small-scale maintenance has been a drain on resources. However, the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust’s new corporate plan identifies the urgent need to find a productive re-use for the building.
The Historic Dockyard Chatham has been one of Medway’s defining features for centuries, which is why it has been particularly sad to see certain areas of the site fall behind and not reach its potential. Yet, bit by bit we have been successful in restoring more buildings, and so it is fantastic to secure a large portion of the funding for this particular project and the long term future sustainability of the whole estate.
The project will create new rental space within the building for commercial tenancy, create a Volunteer Centre of Excellence within the building to greatly improve the 300 plus volunteers’ on-site training and social spaces, as well as delivering the Dockyard’s excellent Library and Archive into more productive re-use with enhanced visitor access to this nationally important collection.
I am proud to have such a community and national asset residing in Rochester and Strood, which provides significant economic value to the wider Medway area, currently estimated to be in the region of £16m per annum.