DERBY HIPPODROME

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Following partial demolition of the listed grade II Derby Hippodrome on Friday 28 March, The Theatres Trust has met with senior officials of Derby City Council to discuss plans to secure the future of the theatre. Mhora Samuel, Director and Mark Price, Planning and Architecture Adviser for The Theatres Trust met with Richard Williams, Assistant Director of Regeneration and Councillor Evonne Williams at the council’s offices.

Says Mark Price, “We were reassured that the council intends to obtain an injunction to prevent the owner from carrying out unauthorised works and that a further Urgent Works Notice has been issued. Whilst the owner considers the building to still be unsafe, both the Trust’s and the Council’s view is that the theatre can be shored up and secured”.

The Trust stressed its concern that the contractors responsible for the unauthorised works on Friday could be allowed back on site to comply with the further Urgent Works Notice. Mhora Samuel added, “We were pleased to hear that the council is doing everything it now can to prevent further damage to Derby Hippodrome, including full investigation into possible legal action for previous works. We were doubly relieved at the council’s assurance that they want to see the theatre rebuilt.”

The events of the 28 March are unprecedented in the history of the Trust. The last time anything remotely comparable to this happened was in the 1970s, when one of the domes on the listed Hackney Empire theatre in London was demolished without consent. That case ended up going to a public inquiry. The then owner was ordered to rebuild both domes with the same materials and to the same quality as the originals. In 2003 this theatre was further restored and brought back to life. It is now a thriving performance venue. (Source: Theatres Trust, Apr/08)

Council leader Chris Williamson spoke of his fury as a Derby man at the collapse of the Grade II-listed building and said he would not rest until it was restored. He said, "I'm absolutely furious about what has happened to the Hippodrome. That building has been privately owned for as long as I can remember but it's part of Derby's heritage." The council has come under fire for failing to answer specific questions about what it had done to prevent the damage to the building but Mr Williamson said he could only speak as a Derby resident.

He said, "There are good reasons why the council can't say as much on this issue as it would dearly like to but I'm a resident of this city and I'm as entitled to express my personal opinion as the next man. And this is my personal opinion. I was born in this city, I've lived here all my life, I'm a proud Derbeian and I want to protect our heritage from unnecessary destruction. The internal beauty and grandeur of the Hippodrome has now been destroyed by its partial demolition."

Building owner, Christopher Anthony, said he believed the building was beyond repair and could not be restored. Mr Williamson added, "I hope he's wrong. As long as there's even a hint of life left in that building, and as long as the experts don't support Mr Anthony's assertions about its bleak future, I will not rest until it's restored. If the experts do agree with Mr Anthony, I will not rest until we have the answers we need, for the people of this city and for the Hippodrome."

Mr Williamson defended the council's actions and criticised Mr Anthony for "shifting blame" on to the authority. He said, "There are listed buildings all over the country, many privately owned. No local authority could possibly keep a thorough check on the goings on in each and every one without stationing an officer on every doorstep. Local authorities have responsibility to hold owners to account where buildings require works and that's exactly what the council was doing through the Urgent Works Notice it issued to Mr Anthony. That notice demanded the owner complete works or expect to pay the bill once the council did." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/08)

Christopher Anthony has been linked with another controversial building project. He is a director of Bijou Developments Ltd, which bought the Peoples Church in Grafton Square, Clapham, south west London, and applied for planning permission to convert it into six flats. Residents, church groups and members of a local historical campaign group, the Clapham Society, said they wanted the building saved and applied to English Heritage for it to be listed to give it some protection. While they were waiting for English Heritage to visit the building, Bijou Developments carried out work, legally, to strip the interior of the building, including structural columns.

When English Heritage arrived to inspect it, they said that because the building's interior had been stripped, it was not worth listing. Philip Ashford, a member of the Clapham Society, said, "The society put a submission to English Heritage but, before they could come to make a decision, the developer took out a lot of the interior of the church. It became much less worth listing once that had happened." When Mr Anthony bought the Hippodrome, his address as listed on the Land Registry entry, was a flat in Grafton Square. Currently, a penthouse apartment in the converted church is on the market for £2.2m.

A Lambeth Council planning committee report from when the church went forward for planning approval in 2005, states, "Part demolition has taken place internally with the removal of the gallery and coved ceiling, which has left doubts as to the structural stability of the building. The cast-iron gallery columns removed were not merely decorative but were also important structural elements supporting the roof. In response to the works carried out, the applicant has advised that such works were undertaken due to the dilapidated and unsafe nature of the building's internal fabric."

The documents state church groups who wanted to buy the building were also concerned they had not been aware it had been sold and so did not have a chance to bid. The documents add, however, that the building was marketed. One of the companies involved in marketing the property was Rubix Property Professionals, that company is based in Sitwell Street in Spondon. Andrew Rutherford, of Rubix, has had involvement with Christopher Anthony before, and his father, Alan, owns the car park in Crompton Street which backs on to the Hippodrome theatre. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/08)

Derby City Council claims Mr Anthony had said he did not believe he needed permission to knock down the Grade II-listed building. The council has drawn up its version of events which led up to large parts of the building in Green Lane being demolished, as contractors for the owner, Christopher Anthony, started repair work to the roof which the council had ordered. The council's document was drawn up to help its High Court bid for an injunction to stop any further work being carried out to the building. In its injunction bid document, the council's assistant director of regeneration, Richard Williams, claimed work started on the building before its officers had agreed how it would be done.

Mr Williams said the council first contacted Mr Anthony in July last year, over concerns at a hole in the Hippodrome's roof. Mr Anthony's surveyor replied, saying he had been instructed by Mr Anthony to pursue the demolition of the building and that it was believed listed building consent for that would not be necessary because the property was in a bad state of repair. Mr Williams said that, when the council's consultant structural engineer, Jerry Gilbert, carried out an inspection in January this year, it revealed a lot of internal damage. Mr Williams said, "This damage had apparently taken place over recent months and, in my opinion, some of this was clearly intentional."

The consultant's inspection ruled the building was structurally sound. The council said it wanted to serve an urgent works notice to force repair work to take place on parts of the building and had told Mr Anthony on February 1 that the notice would be served within seven days. After the fire on February 8, the council had to review the notice. Alan Rutherford began to act as main spokesman for Mr Anthony, the council said, and he mentioned the sort of machinery that would be used to repair the building. The council said it was concerned using that type of machine, a remotely-operated mechanical arm, could be "overly destructive". (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Apr/08)