Paul Jardine of Jura Consultants presented the outline of his Options Appraisal to the Gunnersbury Park Regeneration Board on February 26th 2009.

The “headline” outcomes of his work are these proposals:

* That Large Mansion be used as a restaurant and for functions and conferences, with staff accommodation above.

* That Gunnersbury Park Museum be moved into the Small Mansion.

* That the Museum Stores be moved into the restored Stables

* That the Orangery be converted into a Tearoom

* That the historic landscape be improved

* And that, after council funding and public grants are included, the cost might be covered by building houses along the southern end of Lionel Road.

The details of his presentation can be found in the slides he used which also shows the alternatives which he seriously considered for each building. In each case he has attempted to put a cost to the alternatives. This is the first time for many years at Gunnersbury that we have been able to consider suggestions for the buildings with any realistic supporting information.

The process he has used is to assemble a full range of alternatives for each building and test them against the constraints (such as appropriateness in a historic park, or commercial viability). From the surviving proposals he was then able to do more detailed work, including valuations, and it is this which he is presenting in his slides. From that more detailed work he will finally make a set of proposals to both councils, and the “headlines” show the proposals which are emerging. They are not yet fixed – we will have to wait until 2nd April to hear them completely. Then the public will be asked its opinions.

Nevertheless, what we now have – for the first time – is a realistic estimate of the cost of the damage that has been done to Gunnersbury and the outlines of the route we might have to follow if we want to restore the Park, the Museum, the historic landscape and the buildings, and create a place with a future.

(20 March 2009, JW)