Restored tram details at 38 Robertson Street

Trinity Triangle Maintenance Club launched – new members welcome

Buildings in the Trinity Triangle area of Hastings town centre have benefited from a “Spring Clean” over recent weeks, as the start of a local Maintenance Club that is hoping to expand. The aim is for owners and others responsible for buildings to collaborate to save money and protect local buildings. HOT’s Erica Smith looks at the difference some TLC makes to the buildings in our town centre.

28 Robertson Street – before and after

“The most difficult thing with buildings these days is accessing heights. Forty years ago you’d just put a ladder up! Problem is, it means that the basics don’t get done and that adds up to big costs later.” – Chris Dodwell, Hastings Building Services

Support from Historic England as part of the Trinity Triangle High Street Heritage Action Zone, is helping to develop a coordinated response to this problem. The TT Maintenance Club will encourage owners to share the burden of maintenance, drastically reducing costs and helping to remind everyone about those ‘basics’ – clearing the gutters, removing vegetation and nests, repairing leaky downpipes, and sealing up pigeon-sized holes!

“Once you see the neighbourhood as a single structure, you can understand how it all hangs together, both as the physical fabric and the relationships between people. Trinity Triangle and the wider White Rock area have always had a strong community spirit and that continues to grow. The Maintenance Club is just the latest example of how local people can come together to solve problems.” – Jess Steele OBE, Jericho Road

To kickstart the Club, Jericho Road Solutions and Hastings Building Services came up with the Spring Clean idea. Andre and his cherry-picker spent a week surveying the whole neighbourhood with Sid the photographer, taking over 2,000 close-up photographs and a tick-list of issues for each building. Owners were then invited to a zoom briefing where they could opt in for their building to be included in a rapid-clean-up the following week.

Having done the survey and the tidy-up, the third part of the project is to identify some specific pieces of work at height that would make a difference, and to work with local owners and businesses to decide which of these ‘awkward works’ to tackle first.

Restored tram details at 48 Robertson Street

Alma Howell, Historic England Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas, said: “This is a great initiative that is supporting local businesses coming out of lockdown by helping the high street area ‘present its best face’ to a re-emerging public. We’re encouraging owners of properties in the Trinity Triangle High Street Heritage Action Zone to take part in the new Maintenance Club so that they take care of their buildings in the longer term and develop local pride in the area through cost effective, collective action. The Spring Clean has dealt with problems that would have caused serious damage if left untouched. We think that it is such a good approach to help protect heritage and support owners that we’re sharing this idea with other High Street Heritage Action Zones across the country.”

To find out more about the Trinity Triangle Maintenance Club contact: donna@jerichoroad.co.uk

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