Date: 28/01/2008
High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council have reached an agreement with Nestlé to move on to the next step of the proposed £32 million Crescent development project, providing a major boost to the project. Both councils are now working with the developers and, it is hoped, preliminary ground investigations will go ahead in Spring to determine if the scheme is viable.
Nestlé - owners of the popular and well-established Buxton water brand - and a major employer in the town, is working closely with the Council on the project, particularly on geotechnical and hydrological matters.
The Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa Project will provide:
Councillor John Faulkner, Leader of High Peak Borough Council, said: "This is an important step for this development and we are confident that we can now push ahead with plans to start ground condition tests in and around the Crescent Building in Spring.
"If the tests prove successful, this will mean the beginning of the long-awaited refurbishment of the Crescent, along with a new Visitor Centre to be developed as a local attraction."
High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council have worked together on this project for many years.
In 2003, they appointed project developers, Trevor Osborne Property Group Limited and CP Holdings Ltd, to carry out the work. The Buxton Crescent Hotel and Thermal Spa Company Limited is a joint venture. Trevor Osborne Property Group Limited and CP Holdings Ltd are joint developers and the operator of the spa hotel will be Danubius Hotels.
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded the Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa Project £12.5 million in 2006. Also in 2006, the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) awarded £5 million to the project, £2m of which is through the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership (DDEP). The total cost to develop the project is approximately £32 million.
The Crescent was the centre-piece of the 5th Duke of Devonshire's scheme to create a fashionable spa in the North of England. It was designed by John Carr of York and constructed from 1780 to 1789 to provide an assembly room, two hotels (some of the first purpose built hotels in the country) and six lodging houses.
One of the hotels closed in the early part of the last century. It became County Council offices and the town's library in 1970, before becoming vacant in 1992. The other hotel (the St Ann's) closed in 1989 and has remained empty.
The natural baths evolved over many centuries and occupy the site of the Roman baths, situated over the main mineral water spring. The current building was constructed in 1853 to the design of Henry Curry, but was altered in the 1920s. It was partly refurbished as the Tourist Information Centre, but most of the building has been empty since 1972.
The Pump Room was built for the 7th Duke of Devonshire by Henry Curry in 1894. It was last used to "take the waters" in the 1970s.