Lostwithiel; Edgcumbe and Taprell House

Edgcumbe and Taprell House are Grade II* listed buildings, located at the heart of Lostwithiel town centre, Cornwall. With beginnings in the 16^th Century and extensive alterations in the Georgian period, the buildings have played a valuable part in the area’s history and culture and in the heritage of the town.

We were commissioned in 2023 to consider how the buildings might be re-purposed and how they could be brought back into full use; to support preservation of the town’s heritage, and to provide a new use for the building that would support and benefit the local community as a community asset.

Working with the Town Council, we engaged with a cross- section of the local community, including key stakeholders such as the Town Museum and external stakeholders and local organisations that included the Community Centre and Lostwithiel Business Group.

The commission involved engagement events designed to gain the insight of other important community members, including local parents and carers, and pupils from Lostwithiel Primary School who participated in a town mapping workshop.

Our engagement and consultation process provided an insight into local opinion on the project and, in collaboration with the members of the Town Team, we developed the key aims of the project into a ‘Vision’, that sets a gauge for the future development of the project.

Insights provided by young Lostwithiel residents, the pupils at Lostwithiel Primary School, brough awareness of the concerns and interests of the town’s next generation and raised opportunities for how the project can respond to these.

The study established a potential route for development of Edgcumbe House and Taprell House into a Heritage and Creative Arts Centre. The commission included a financially viability appraisal and proposed operating model, based on relevant precedents of community run facilities. The study identified a business model to generate profit, which that could be reinvested into the preservation of the building and to support the hosting of heritage and arts based outreach events for the local community.

Our commission for the Town Council included an assessment of the potential economic prospects for the town through the development, such as the creation of jobs; and determined the positive benefits of creative reuse of the buildings to the local economy and to local businesses. The proposals set a wider identify project for the town with the notion of a ‘heritage gateway’ to further support the Town Museum and local businesses in Fore Street.