14 CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 short time. Knowledge, understanding and an appreciation of traditional skills and appropriate repair techniques have created much-needed employment and ensured the preservation of the town’s heritage. The backdrop to the trust’s work is familiar to many coastal towns. Great Yarmouth, like others, suffers a range of persistent social and economic issues. These have been compounded with the decline of high streets, the impact of the financial crash from 2007, the pandemic and, most recently, the cost-of-living crisis. As an example, in 2012 70 per cent of the retail space in the lower end of Kings Street was vacant, with the large number of neglected, boarded-up buildings contributing to a sense of decline in the town centre. The trust’s focused and ongoing work on Kings Street has directly restored key buildings and acted as a catalyst for the owners of other King Street properties. The investment resulted in the opening of small shops such as barbers, news agents and grocers to service the growing community now living around the street. Many buildings on Kings Street are still in need of repair, but before the pandemic this part of Great Yarmouth’s town centre was widely felt to have turned a corner. Supported by this early work and approach from the trust, in December 2020 Great Yarmouth Borough Council secured a £13.7 million investment from the government’s Future High Streets Fund to underpin further action to improve the town centre around the Market Place area. The trust also contributed to the council’s successful bid for £21 million of government investment through a Town Deal, acting as a partner to deliver a series of building repairs and training. As a trading port on the edge of the east coast, the town’s rich heritage, culture and traditions have been firmly influenced by international connections, helping to shape a character that is truly distinctive. That character continues to evolve as communities shift and new influences arrive. GreatYarmouth Preservation Trust puts significant emphasis on the value of sharing skills and exchanging knowledge, both between different parts of the local community, and between Great Yarmouth and other places that are working to maintain and improve their local environments in challenging conditions. Building on Great Yarmouth’s heritage as an important port for trade, the trust has fostered connections around historic trading links and partners on projects across Europe and Asia. The approach enables a broad community to collaborate locally and on an international level. Activities such as research projects, exchange visits, cross-border training and engagement through international partnerships have fostered greater learning and built transferable skills. The process enables partnerships to be established with organisations, NGOs, universities, charities and groups. Partners share similar issues with Great Yarmouth, including low skill levels, or are connected by communities or by historic trade links. The driving motivation of all the partners is cooperation to share knowledge and provide meaningful opportunities for people to develop skills which can be used for the preservation of heritage. Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust has benefited from a range of third-sector funding programmes, including Historic England, Headley Trust (part of Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts), Pilgrim Trust and National Lottery programmes such as the Heritage Fund. The trust has received significant support from Architectural Heritage Fund, both through grant funding and sharing advice and expertise, and as a heritage development trust. A range of project partners has provided in-kind support for the trust’s projects. Beyond grants, the trust is working to build resilience and self-sufficiency by growing its portfolio and a diversification of activities to generate revenue. It is working through a fiveyear strategy to build organisational sustainability, which will reduce dependency on funding bodies. Darren Barker is managing director of Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust and leads several international conservation training programmes in Europe and Asia. Community training at the 13th-century ruined church of St Margaret, Hopton, which has undergone a programme of repair and consolidation
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