PRESS RELEASE: SAVE Britain’s Heritage urges Ayr councillors to do the right thing as demolition looms over historic hotel
![Ayr Station Hotel in October 2018 with its magnificent cheateaux-like tower [Credit - Nigel Hackett]](/img/articles/WEB_AY~1.JPG)
Ayr Station Hotel in October 2018 with its magnificent cheateaux-like tower [Credit - Nigel Hackett]![BEFORE: View from the south wing in 2018 [Credit: Andrew Milligan]](/img/articles/BEFORE-View_from_S_wing_in_2018_c_Andrew_Milligan.jpg)
BEFORE: View from the south wing in 2018 [Credit: Andrew Milligan]![AFTER: The south wing today, covered by scaffolding costing £69k a month [Credit: ASHAG]](/img/articles/AFTER_S_wing_as_today__scaff_costs_GBP_69k_pcm_c_ASHAG.jpg)
AFTER: The south wing today, covered by scaffolding costing £69k a month [Credit: ASHAG]![The grand central staircase in the south wing with Victorian lift cage [Credit: Urbex]](/img/articles/Grand_central_stair_in_S_wing_with_victorian_lift_cage_-_Urbex.jpg)
The grand central staircase in the south wing with Victorian lift cage [Credit: Urbex]
SAVE's report from May 2022![The hotel has been left to rot by the current owner since 2014 [Credit: Catherine Hunter]](/img/articles/Hotel_hb_left_to_rot_by_current_owner_since_2014_-_Catherine_Hunter.jpg)
The hotel has been left to rot by the current owner since 2014 [Credit: Catherine Hunter]
Reject £6.6m demolition plan, says SAVE ahead of tomorrow's crunch meeting
December 14th 2022
SAVE Britain’s Heritage is urging members of South Ayrshire Council to take courage and reject a recommendation to demolish the most historic part of the Scottish town’s celebrated Station Hotel.
We have written urgently to the councillors alerting them to the fact that the recommendation to approve demolition is illegal under section 35(4) of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.
This is because any demolition of a listed building requires listed building consent, something the report – prepared by planning officers ahead of a crunch full council meeting tomorrow (Thursday 15th December) – fails to mention.
SAVE’s letter, signed by director Henrietta Billings, says: “At tomorrow’s council meeting, officers are trying to ‘bounce’ you into adopting their preferred option of partially demolishing Ayr Station Hotel at a cost of £6.6 million.”
It adds: “For a fraction of the cost of demolition, the hotel could be stabilised for the medium term while better permanent solutions are developed, saving the monthly cost of the encapsulation [by scaffolding].”
It concludes: “We therefore ask you to defer any decision on the demolition of Ayr Station Hotel based on the information currently available, and to refer the situation back to officers for the better consideration this listed building requires.”
The council report outlines the recommendation that demolition of the historic south wing of the hotel be approved in order to bring to an end more than four and a half years of underwriting the protective scaffold encasing the Category B-listed building.
As we point out in our letter, demolition would cost the taxpayer £6.6 million – and require the scaffold to remain in place for another 18 months, at a further estimated cost of £1.24 million.
It would also rob the town of one of its most historic landmarks.
In contrast SAVE highlights the cheaper course of action would be to stabilise the building using the existing scaffolding before removing it – an option the report does not offer. This would not only be cheaper but would preserve and reveal the historic building to allow new uses to come forward.
In May 2022 SAVE Britain’s Heritage published a report setting out a series of alternative uses for Ayr Station Hotel, drawn up by leading Scottish architects and costed by quantity surveyors. Our proposals also set out a fundable and sustainable two-stage model to repair and transform this listed building into a commercial proposition.
Our letter today sets out three key reasons why demolition would be both illegal and unnecessary – and why councillors should reject demolition in favour of straightforward repairs.
SAVE has also requested that Ed Morton, one of Britain’s leading historic building structural engineers, be invited back to complete a comprehensive assessment of the building, inside and out, providing the council with the up-to-date evidence needed to make a legally sound decision on the hotel’s structural safety.
We have also reiterated our previous offer to fund this at no cost to the council.
The historic hotel was bought in 2014 by a now absentee owner who has failed to maintain the building or respond to enforcement action. As a result the building has fallen into a state of disrepair, as documented in SAVE’s detailed report setting out pragmatic proposals for bringing the building back into use.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. For more information contact Ben Oakley, conservation officer at SAVE Britain's Heritage – ben.oakley@savebritainsheritage.org/ 020 7253 3500.
3. Read SAVE's May 2022 report, Ayr Station Hotel: Proposals for alternative use, here
4. SAVE Britain's Heritageis a strong, independent voice in conservation that fights for threatened historic buildings and sustainable reuses. We stand apart from other organisations by bringing together architects, engineers, planners and investors to offer viable alternative proposals. Where necessary, and with expert advice, we take legal action to prevent major and needless losses.