|
| | | | |
|
 | | PRESS LAUNCH OF RESTORED HAREWOOD COURTYARD | | | Harewood House Trust | | 10/07/2006 | | | Leaders from the worlds of national politics, regional regeneration, tourism and heritage will come together on Monday 10 July, to celebrate completion of the newly restored Courtyard at Harewood.
Baroness Lola Young (Department of Culture Media and Sport); Terry Hodgkinson (Chair, Yorkshire Forward); Judy Cligman and Fiona Spiers (Heritage Lottery Fund) will join David & Diane Lascelles (Trustees of Harewood House Trust) to (re)open the newly restored Grade 1 listed building, 250 years on from its original construction by John Carr.
A dancer and musicians from Kala Sangam, and a steel band will accompany them in unveiling a plaque to mark the launch, at 11.30am.
The Courtyard, originally built as a Stables and predating construction of the main House, has been restored externally and transformed internally to create greatly improved cafe and facilities for day visitors, a new education wing, and brand new conference and meeting spaces for corporate and private hospitality events.
This £3.5m project, in which Yorkshire Forward invested £1.7m as part of its Rural Renaissance and tourism programme, has enabled a huge improvement in facilities for visitors, as well as creating a whole range of new spaces that can be used for Education, training, meetings, and allow Harewood to develop new business in hosting conferences and generating revenue - enhancing the sustainability of this flagship tourism attraction overall.
The new Education Suite of rooms provides greatly improved facilities for the wide range of school, adult, and community groups that visit Harewood as part of structured activities, workshops, training and educational programmes aimed at increasing skills and extending participation by a broad range of audiences. With the installation of 2 lifts, the upper floor is now accessible to all - impossible until this work.
Terry Hodgkinson, Chair of Yorkshire Forward said: 'The region has a target to increase the value of tourism earnings in Yorkshire and Humber by 5% per year from £4.2billion in 2003 to £5.9 billion by 2010. Yorkshire Forward wants to create a culture in which education learning and skills are highly valued by individuals and business. This project gives us opportunities to do both by improving skills in the workplace by supporting training and development through schools and colleges in a setting which can only be described as one of the finest examples of architectural heritage in the region.'
David Lascelles, Chairman of Harewood House Trust said 'Harewood House Trust is a registered educational charitable trust, set up to conserve Harewood House and its grounds for the public benefit. We receive no revenue support from local or central government for this work, so we are very grateful to Yorkshire Forward and the Heritage Lottery Fund for their help in restoring and revitalising the Courtyard. Without their investment and a sizeable contribution from Harewood Estate - a classic public/private partnership - it would be very difficult to either continue our educational work or play the kind of role we would like in Yorkshire's tourism strategy and generate jobs and revenue for the region.'
With the support of an award from HLF of £484,500 for the Harewood Explored audience development programme, over the next five years the Trust will encourage new groups and communities to visit and enjoy what Harewood has to offer through travel grants and an extensive programme of events and activities.
The launch ceremony will take place at 11.30am followed by a buffet reception.
All key participants will be available for interview prior to and following the launch ceremony.
Other people involved in the restoration project will be available for interview: Roger Tempest - Rural Solutions, The Rural Regeneration Company, Project Management.
Seth Stein - Architect. | |
|
| | | View similar articles: | | |
| | | |
|
 | People who viewed this article were also interested in |  | |  |
|