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APPENDIX 1 The Forty Hall & Estate Development Project Where a world city meets the country March 2008 A Stage One Application to the Heritage Lottery Fund Executive Summary Image 1 APPENDIX 1 Preface One of London’s most significant cultural landscapes, Forty Hall & Estate is the heritage crown jewel of the London Borough of Enfield. This Executive Summary provides an introduction to the rationale and vision behind the Forty Hall & Estate Development Project and our Stage One application for capital funds. The Development Project represents a wonderful opportunity to enhance our most significant heritage resource for the long-term benefit of all residents and visitors to the borough. Forty Hall & Estate is the borough’s flagship heritage project and has become a catalyst for the more creative integration of heritage issues into our planning for Enfield’s future. This is a project that delivers right across the Council’s corporate and community planning priorities. The Development Project is a bold and imaginative vision for a much-loved local heritage asset that will transform public understanding and enjoyment of the site and create a more flexible and dynamic venue for new learning, programming and partnership opportunities: getting more people more engaged and more involved with their heritage than ever before. Councillor Michael Rye Leader of the Council Rob Leak Chief Executive APPENDIX 1 Contents Introduction The Big Idea 1. Who We Are 2. Project Rationale 3. The Opportunity for Development 4. Considering Our Options 5. The Master Plan 6. The Development Project 7. Anticipated Project Benefits 8. Conclusions APPENDIX 1 Introduction The London Borough of Enfield has been responsible for Forty Hall & Estate since 1951 when the council purchased the site from the Bowles family. Forty Hall is listed Grade I and the parkland of the Estate is registered Grade II. The site includes the Scheduled Ancient Monument of Elsyng and the whole Estate is located within the Forty Hill Conservation Area. Currently Forty Hall is operated by the Council as a local borough museum and community arts and heritage venue. The parkland of the Estate has been a public amenity since 1951. The Banqueting Suite forming one range of the Hall’s courtyard is leased by the Council to a commercial operator for weddings, events and conferences. The farm on the Estate is privately operated by Capel Manor College as a working modern farm and used as an educational resource for its students. Understood as a whole, Forty Hall & Estate is a richly diverse and largely intact historic cultural landscape. The cultural and natural heritage assets of Forty Hall & Estate cannot be properly understood apart; they have been shaped by centuries of human activity and are indivisible. With a cultural landscape such as this, an integrated approach to planning for conservation, learning and participation must be taken. In order to plan for the sustainable future of Forty Hall & Estate we have undertaken a detailed and sensitive consideration of the existing situation, our development needs and our options for development, all within the strategic context of the borough’s corporate, community and heritage priorities. The Council has made small-scale incremental improvements to the site over the years. We have concluded that the point has now been reached where only a significant capital investment in the Hall and Estate can create the step change needed to secure a fully sustainable and exciting future for Forty Hall & Estate. APPENDIX 1 The Big Idea A cultural landscape where a world city meets the country Enfield’s physical and human geography is fundamental to understanding the historical significance and future of Forty Hall & Estate. The very reason for the site’s existence and current form is bound up with historic and contemporary routes of connectivity and communication between the centre of London and its rural and suburban hinterland. A progressive sense of place In a globalising, urbanising world, place and locality matters to us more than ever. A progressive sense of place values openness, connection and cohesion between people and places. Meeting the challenge of change is the responsibility of all UK local authorities. Enfield Council is working towards a progressive sense of place through its corporate and community planning and in how these priorities are given spatial form within our Local Development Framework. Enfield’s heritage is a creative resource Heritage is a vital, creative part of our shared future and a foundation on which to base a progressive sense of place. This is reflected in the first consultation draft of our Heritage Strategy, which, for the first time, integrates thinking on tangible and intangible heritage as a positive response to national and international best practice, and to the cultural and spatial diversity of the London Borough of Enfield. Forty Hall & Estate is a cultural landscape Forty Hall & Estate is our heritage crown jewel and the Council’s number one priority heritage project. Forty Hall & Estate is a cultural landscape and needs to be understood and planned for as such; the natural and cultural heritage of the site is indivisible, their significance and meaning lies in the tapestry of their relations woven together through centuries of human activity. Forty Hall & Estate: significance and authenticity Forty Hall & Estate is one of London’s most significant cultural landscapes. It has remained largely intact for centuries, a survivor protected by its location on the edge of London and the Green Belt. The Forty Hall & Estate Development Project is uncovering new stories of the Hall and its owners, the shape and development of the medieval and Tudor site of Elsyng Palace and the design and layout of landscape and gardens. For the first time we are gathering together the full richness of the palimpsest that is Forty Hall & Estate. We must do justice to the significance and authenticity of this special place for the public benefit and future generations. APPENDIX 1 A special place The Forty Hall & Estate Development Project delivers on our priorities for conservation, learning and participation towards an exciting and sustainable future for this special place. The Development Project is embedded within a Master Plan. The Master Plan establishes a single coherent approach to the whole site. The Forty Hall & Estate Development Project represents the ‘step change’ phase of the Master Plan. 1. Conservation The Forty Hall & Estate Conservation Management Plan provides a detailed assessment of the conservation issues facing the site and is the foundation document on which the physical enhancement of the site is based. The Conservation Management Plan establishes the significance of the site and its constituent parts, and has been subsequently informed by the work of our Design Team, particularly in relation to new evidence on the significance and layout of gardens and landscape. 2. Learning Learning takes centre stage within the Development Project. Our new Learning Strategy – based on the Inspiring Learning for All framework – advocates using Forty Hall & Estate as a catalyst for a new kind of approach to using the whole of Enfield’s environment as a learning resource. This is being explored further in partnership with educational providers on issues such as curriculum-shaping and the education of the next generation of heritage professionals. 3. Participation Increasing, broadening and deepening levels of public engagement and involvement support all our plans for the future of Forty Hall & Estate. The Development Project addresses barriers to access and drivers for audience development through new approaches to public programming, partnerships and promotion. Ecology, art, memory Our new approach to enhancing participation is based on three inter-connected programming threads that build on the significance of the site; ecology, art and memory. Our Cultural Strategy and consultation has identified a lack of local opportunities to engage with the visual arts, particularly contemporary art and public art. Forty Hall & Estate is a ‘natural’ venue to take this on. Flexibility and dynamism Forty Hall & Estate will become a far more flexible and dynamic venue for public programming as a result of the Development Project. More spaces within the Hall will be open to the public (an increase of 73%) whilst our approach to the presentation and interpretation of the main rooms ensures that the Hall maintains a high degree of flexibility of use. Forty Hall & Estate will be the place that everyone is talking about, where there is always something going on and where people want to come back to again and again, and recommend to others. APPENDIX 1 4. A sustainable and exciting future The Forty Hall & Estate Development Project is the step change phase of our Master Plan to secure a sustainable and exciting future. Venue, destination, centre of excellence Our ambition is for Forty Hall & Estate to develop and operate successfully into the future as a venue, destination attraction and centre of excellence for arts, heritage and learning. Regional impact, national significance It is our ambition for Forty Hall & Estate to become a regional heritage resource. For us, this means that Forty Hall & Estate is known throughout the capital and beyond, and our financial viability is enhanced through new and improved income generating activities such as café, retail, events and hires. The Development Project makes a significant contribution to the viability of other local, complementary cultural resources and to the north London visitor economy. Forty Hall & Estate will become a ‘brand lighthouse’ for north London’s visitor economy. Our plans for learning and programming demonstrate what can be done with an historic cultural landscape and represent an example of innovation nationally for a local authority heritage resource. Image 2 APPENDIX 1 1. Who We Are 1.1 Enfield Borough Council Enfield Borough Council’s Vision To make Enfield one of the best places to live, work, study and do business.

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