The Prince's Regeneration Trust helping to regenerate Bletchley Park
The Prince's Regeneration Trust and the Bletchley Park Trustees has announced that the Trust has been appointed to project manage the regeneration of Bletchley Park.
The role of Bletchley Park as 'Station X', the hub of Britain's World War Two decryption operations, puts it among one of the most significant sites in Twentieth Century military history. The site has a key role in post-war developments as well with the Colossus machines built at Bletchley from 1943 onwards pre-figuring the development of the modern programmable computer. The decisive role of the cryptography, which almost certainly altered the course of WWII decisively in favour of the Allies and the intellectual breakthroughs associated with this and the later Colossus programme, make Bletchley the cradle of the computer age.
The Trust will be restoring several areas of the site including some of the legendary huts in which the code breaking took place. The aim of the regeneration project is to enhance the visitor experience, providing a more dynamic tour, more educational events and activities, and better visitor facilities.
A grant of £460,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery fund under a First Round Pass to work up the development phase of the project. The Trust will be primarily responsible for appointing and supervising progress of the design team and other consultants to obtain the necessary listed building and planning consents and reports in order to submit the Second Round HLF application for £4.1million
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive, The Prince's Regeneration Trust, is delighted to be working on such an iconic site:
"We're absolutely thrilled to be working on a site of such great importance to our country. Our aim is to substantially increase the number of visitors to Bletchley Park by making Bletchley attractive and relevant to visitors of all ages and backgrounds. This is a part of our Twentieth Century history but we want it to be a top Twenty First Century visitor destination.
Better displays and exhibition space, more interactive facilities to assist with learning, regular related events, and improved food and drink outlets are all things that the project partners will be working on to increase visitor numbers and encourage repeat visits."
Simon Greenish, Chief Executive of Bletchley Park, believes the Trust's expertise will be invaluable to securing Bletchley Park's future:
“The immensely important historical site of Bletchley Park is now poised to be restored and the full extraordinary story of the work of the code breakers and the impact they had on the war will now be told. It is vitally important that we ensure this site is protected for future generations and with the very generous funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund now in place we can start the work.”
The Prince of Wales, President of The Prince's Regeneration Trust, and The Duchess of Cornwall visited Bletchley Park on 23rd July 2008. During the visit The Prince described Bletchley Park as a "remarkable" place and the codebreaking centre as one of the "greatest British success stories."
Posted 15th March 2010
