London church appointment for Focus Consultants

St Marylebone Church

Focus Consultants has been appointed to project manage a plan for a major restoration at one of London’s historic churches.

The Parish Church of St Marylebone, home to the internationally respected Healing and Counselling Centre and innovative NHS Marylebone Health Centre, has been awarded initial support of £700,000 from The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to develop proposals for the £8.6m restoration of the church and the renewal of community facilities. 

The historical Grade I listed London landmark has appointed Focus Consultants as project directors and project managers.  

The scheme is set to include new building work adjoined to the current structure to include a welcome and reception area, additional exhibition space and a café for visitors. In addition to this, extensive repairs and conservation efforts are expected to take place on the existing building. 

Focus Consultants partner Ellie Clarke said: “St Marylebone Church is an important building in London and the team at Focus is very pleased to have been appointed to help with the development in the next chapter of its history.

“We have significant experience of working on such projects and are looking forward to project managing these inspiring proposals.”

Constructed in 1817, the Anglican church located on the Marylebone Road is the third building used for the parish church in the borough’s 900-year-old history. The present church was the venue for the wedding of Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett and the baptism of Charles Dickens’ son. In the 1980s, the Parish took a huge leap in converting the unusable crypts of the church to create a range of complementary facilities for community uses.  

The Rector of St Marylebone, The Revd Canon Stephen Evans, commented: “The regeneration will allow the parish to become a Community Hub which will tell the story of St Marylebone "the great city north of Oxford Street".

The Rector and Parochial Church Council will be partnering the Church Army’s Marylebone Project in providing a Community Café, staffed by women who would otherwise be homeless, Vital Regeneration, an innovative community enterprise project based in Church Street, one of Westminster’s most deprived areas, working with local young people who are not in employment or education, the Building Crafts College in Stratford (which was founded in and had its premises in Marylebone for nearly 100 years) and a host of other individuals and agencies. 

The Changing Lives project will lead to a more sustainable future for the church - creating a vibrant, welcoming hub and enabling visitors to learn more about the heritage of the church and the wider Marylebone area. 

The Focus team is currently working to develop the bid ready for submission to the HLF in Summer 2018. The project is expected to be completed in 2020. 

Focus, which is based in Nottingham, has offices in London, Leicester and Boston in Lincolnshire. This project is being led by the London office. The company has, since 1994, secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers a range of services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham based Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk 

Arts restoration project completed by Focus Consultants

Watts Studios exterior, 2016, © David Grandorge

Heritage experts at Focus Consultants have played a key role in the opening to the public for the first time of the studios of an eminent Victorian artist and his designer wife.

The company supported a successful second round bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for £2.4million grant funding in support of the project at the home of G F and Mary Watts.

Watts Gallery Trust has now recreated G F Watts's studio and created a gallery dedicated to Mary Watts's work in the east wing of the Grade-II listed property Limnerslease in Compton, Surrey, which has just opened to the public for the first time.

As well as seeing where the couple worked, the public can also view some of their most famous paintings and sculptures, including The Court of Death (c. 1870-1902, Tate Britain), a huge painting that took G F Watts 32 years to complete. Watts’s last major work, it is displayed upon a recreation of the original pulley system designed by the artist to allow him to work upon the vast canvas in its entirety.

In addition to helping to secure the grant, Nottingham-based Focus Consultants project managed the restoration scheme - part of a £4million project to secure and restore this important site in the arts world.

“This was the latest in a number of key arts and heritage restoration schemes that Focus Consultants has been proud to have played a role in, and we are delighted that the studios of artists G F Watts and Mary Watts are now open to the public to visit,” said Steven Fletcher, a Partner at Focus, which also has offices in London, Leicester and in Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire.

“The principal aims of the project included establishing a centre for heritage learning and research, showing the late 19^th Century domestic, social and working life of two leading Victorian artists, and to sustain the future of an artists’ village, to secure the long-term future of the Watts legacy and wider estate, and we were delighted to have brought our expertise to this development.”

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of HLF, said: “The opening up of Watts Studios is set to benefit the local community, making a serious contribution to Surrey’s tourist economy and helping create a sense of confidence and pride in what Compton can offer visitors both domestically and internationally.”

Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village, said: “We are grateful to HLF and to the Trusts, Foundations and many generous individuals who are enabling us to save this important part of our cultural heritage.”

Focus specialises in funding and economic development including area regeneration strategies, funding applications, economic impact appraisals, business plans, and research and evaluation.  Since 1994 Focus has also secured for clients more than £953 million of grants for projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.3 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country.

It also offers services to the property and construction industry, including building surveying, quantity surveying, project management, and sustainable development support.

For more information, visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

To find out more about Watts Gallery Artists’ Village, visit www.wattsgallery.org.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

World War One warship role for Focus Consultants

Heritage and exhibition specialists at Focus Consultants are part of the team restoring the only surviving ship from the World War One Gallipoli campaign so that it can be opened up to the public. 

HMS M.33 is one of Britain’s three surviving Royal Navy First World War warships and is currently in a dry dock in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, next to HMS Victory.   

With the help of Focus, the restoration project secured almost £1.8 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and now work has begun to bring the ship back to former glory and allow the public to tour her in 2015, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign she took part in. 

Focus, which has its headquarters in Nottingham and branches in London, Leicester, and in Boston and Aubourn in Lincolnshire, has been appointed as cost consultant and CDM (construction, design and management) coordinator for the scheme. 

“This is the latest in a number of schemes that Focus is currently involved in around Portsmouth Historic Dockyard,” said Focus Associate Eleanor Clarke. “Working with Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and the International Boatbuilding Training College, we are project manager and quantity surveyor on a development to restore and refurbish Boathouse 4 and create a new £5.5 million Boatbuilding and Heritage Skills Training Centre. 

“We are delighted to have now been appointed on another scheme in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. This project will bring HMS M.33 back to life and will enable visitors to go aboard this historic warship for the first time and explore the stories of those who fought on board.” 

M.33 - a floating gun platform built with the sole aim of hammering targets ashore – became surplus to requirements in the 1980s and was bought by Hampshire County Council in 1990. For nearly 20 years, the gunship has been slowly undergoing restoration work. 

But now the project is stepping up a gear with a £2.4m restoration which is being paid for by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a Hampshire County Council grant to the National Museum of the Royal Navy. 

Since its creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £925 million of grant assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered more than £1.0 billion worth of projects and programmes – making it one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the country. 

It has worked on a range of high-profile projects in the arts, heritage and tourism sector, including some of the major museums across the UK, and important historical and ecclesiastical sites.

For more information about Focus Consultants visit www.focus-consultants.co.uk

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk