Radford House: The Next Stage

Buying Radford House from Kent Fire and Rescue was the easy part. Now we have to translate all the hopes and wishes of many in Ramsgate into bricks and mortar.

All sorts of ideas have been proposed for the building’s use from a dance studio, fitness centre to a Fire Engine Museum. Clearly not all can succeed, but elements or parts of these ideas might be completed in the future.

Covid has not helped this transformation, but in a strange way, it has cemented Radford House into the community. Without Radford House, all the food banks operating in Thanet during the first lockdown would have struggled to get sufficient food out to those who needed it, but Radford House came to the rescue as the distribution centre, which handled over 100 tonnes of food during this period. Radford House also acted as a polling station during the local May elections.

We hope that Radford house will house at least one Electric Vehicle Charging Point (EVCP) and possibly as many as four EVCP points. The building is, of course, the base for the Ramsgate Town Council (RTC) Technicians and their good work is being noticed in the community and around Ramsgate.

There is a lot to do, because repurposing a 200-year-old building is not easy. We have made a start and shortly the long-awaited planning permission(s) will hopefully be granted by Thanet District Council.

The next stage is called the development stage, where we look for any gremlins such as lingering pockets of asbestos, get them removed and make good any structural repairs that are needed, before doing the main building work.

We will need to call in a green energy expert, to see where we can insulate and generate energy most effectively. This is necessary so that we can keep the energy and other utility bills down, and so that the place does not become a money pit or a liability to RTC.

We will need to hire someone to plan out a schedule of works, so that they are done in the right order and so that contracts are let in accordance to best practice.

Fixing up Radford House is not going to be cheap and it will cost quite a bit of money before we get to the real reconstruction work. Fortunately, our friends at the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) have yet again come to our aid and awarded RTC some money to help Radford House on its way to becoming a community hub. I would like to thank them for their kindness, sound advice and support. Ramsgate needs more friends like the AHF.

So, there we are. A brief update which shows that progress is being made, slowly, steadily, but in the right direction.

Written by:
Former Town Clerk,
Richard Styles on April 29.