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  • Home
  • Past Events
  • About
  • Contact
  • History
  • Pictorial Timeline
  • Flora and Fauna
  • Campaign Blog
  • Birds
  • Plants
  • Mammals
  • Birley Spa in the News
  • Butterflies, Moths and Flying Insects
  • Galleries
  • Trees and Shrubs
  • The Future of Birley Spa
  • Insects, Arthropods, Molluscs and Spiders
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YOUR CART

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Our Campaign

Our campaign to save Birley Spa began in the summer of 2018, following an enquiry from a former resident of Hackenthorpe who happened to visit the Spa and was dismayed to see the state of it, neglected and disused for nearly 10 years. He was informed by the council that it was about to be sold. The Friends of Birley Spa was formed shortly afterwards and the battle began.


2/6/2022 1 Comment

Possibility and Positivity?

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Following our meeting with Kate Josephs in October 2021, an independent survey of the building was undertaken by Buttress Architects, the meeting, that was scheduled for November, took place on 28th January 2022. 
Kate Josephs had said we would continue discussions in the spirit of possibility and positivity, but the lineup for the council on the day was the executive member for finance, the head of property services and the head of housing, quite clearly that spirit was no more.

The view of the council is that as they have no funds, we have to find £400k for the essential repairs and have a sustainable business plan for the future of the Spa.

It is worth pointing out that in March 2020 we were advised by the council to have a professional business plan drawn up and the council would pay for it. They said they would pay for it instead of new doors for the building (even though one of the doors was assessed as insecure by a council officer), several months later they said the quote was too expensive, no doors were replaced, no business plan either. We were told to seek out a cheaper quote, however, at this point there was an idea from within the council that funding could be found to make the upper floor residential. We were not keen on this idea at all but the council were determined to see it through. We felt this was unlikely to be a viable option but were left unable to move forward with a business plan because we did not how much of the building it would need to cover. In our meeting in October 2021 we were told that the cost for residential conversion would be between £1.7 and £2 million. Funnily enough, that was the end of that conversation!

So now, in effect, we are back to where we were 2 years ago.

The surveyor was also at the meeting and talked us through his report, we agree with his findings, that the main structure is sound that the upper floor is rotten, there are issues with the roof and major work needs to be undertaken to stop water ingress to the building. We asked whether this was through lack of maintenance, he replied that the main issue was vandalism to the roof. We pointed out that the vandalism to the roof was not recent at all and that it was in fact lack of maintenance and inadequate repair. The £400k figure comes from the recommendations in his report.

As the council are aware, we cannot apply for funding for the building without partnership or tenure. This makes fundraising an issue also, little point in us raising thousands of pounds, for the council to simply sell the building anyway, before we even get into the fact that this is not an affluent area. Do we need business/es and/or charities to get involved? Of course we do, but again how do we convince them to work with us when the council won't?

Perhaps the bigger question is why?

We are happy to be working again with our Business Advisor from Prosper North, if anyone can get us through this he can. 

An interesting comment at the council meeting was that they did not want to set us up to fail, the way we see it, that is exactly what they have been trying to do for the last 3 years, it hasn't worked yet. We are stronger, we are wiser, our support has grown and our vision for the Spa is more relevant now than when we first developed it, but we couldn't have got this far without you, thank you for believing in Birley Spa!

P.S. The photo is of Snowdrops from the Spa, a symbol of HOPE.




1 Comment
Callum Wilcock
3/24/2022 10:09:50 am

Amazing work everyone! I visited Birley Spa yesterday for the first time and was blown away by its beauty and tranquility. I live in Sheffield and want this to be the community asset it was always destined to be. I have a vision and a plan for a commercially viable Not-For-Profit business that Birley Spa would be a perfect home for! It focuses around mental fitness and spiritual well-being. I believe will be able to raise all the money and more, and finally make this a gem of the community. I am working on a business plan and website currently and would love to share my vision with you when it's ready to do so. Give me one month and then the plan will be ready. You all have started something really special here, and I want to work with you and help you realise the potential of Birley Spa, and make it a community asset for years to come. Best wishes, Callum

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