In this episode I am joined by Sarah Charlesworth, Business Skills Foundation Lead at the Hopwood Foundation and Hopwood DePree, writer, actor, director and producer and now Co-Deputy Chair of Historic Houses North-West Region. He is also a published author which details his restoration journey of a Grade 2 listed building, Hopwood Hall, which wasbuilt by his ancestors with parts of it dating back to the 1420s.
Sarah shares how she started working within the heritage sector after studying building archaeology and then working in local government and Historic England. Hopwood grew up in Michagan and then lived in Los Angles where it is heavily influenced by Art Deco designs. When he found out that the stories from his childhood were true and Hopwood Hall was real, he visited the UK and saw the building and the state ofdisrepair but was overwhelmed by how the community was trying their best to care for it. Using the skills he learnt working in film he applied them to saving the building and his work continues.
We talk about the importance of having the right level of resourcing and knowledge in planning departments to support projects and the impact it can have on a building when they are not in place.
Hopwood shares the challenges they are facing in particular all the red tape which is more than he anticipated but the community has fuelled his passion to save the building forfuture generations.
Hopwood describes his surprise at skills shortages given theage of the UK’s building landscape. Sarah talks about the programme they’ve established with prisons to build skills and provide work opportunities when they leave the prison system.
We talk about Hopwood’s plans for Hopwood Hall and how itwill serve the community whilst offering it as an event space to generate income to help maintain the building for generations to come so it can be self-funding rather than rely on grants.
We also discuss the usual challenges, common themes andmisconceptions working in the heritage sector along with top tips when working with an older property.
It will be an interesting listen for anyone embarking on aproject and is looking for some guidance and anyone generally interested in older properties.
If you liked what you heard it would be great if you can share Our Built Heritage with anyone else you think will find it interesting and also subscribe so that you know when the next episode has been released.
It would be amazing if we between us can raise awareness on our built heritage.
Links to organisations mentioned on today’s episode
Hopwood Foundation https://hopwoodfoundation.org/
Architectural Heritage Fund https://ahfund.org.uk/
Heritage Fund https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
Heritage Trust https://heritagetrustnetwork.org.uk/
Getting involved in the skills training/learn more about theprogramme Skills@hopwoodfoundation.org
