The Project
Redruth Revival formally started on the refurbishment scheme in the summer of 2020, appointing a design and project management team for the Buttermarket, our exciting new addition to Redruth’s town centre.
“Breathing new life into the heart of Redruth”
Redruth Revival CIC awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund development grant to progress plans to redevelop the historic Buttermarket
Redruth Revival Community Interest Company has been awarded development grants of £54,952 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £59,850 from the Architectural Heritage Fund to progress with the plans to redevelop the Buttermarket complex of historic buildings in Redruth. The project will conserve the Grade II Listed buildings, improve physical accessibility throughout and create an exciting food hall around which will be clustered units for local food providers, as well as bookable meeting and hot-desking facilities, improved lettable workspaces for local businesses and enhancing the courtyard to support a year-round festival, markets and events programme.
Redruth Revival CIC was formed in 2014 by a group of local businesspeople who recognised the national failure of high streets and wanted to create a better town centre offer in Redruth. The dilapidated Buttermarket complex was identified as a key site with great potential to help achieve this vision. Architecturally exciting and clustered around a magnificent courtyard, the site offered the flexibility for commercial, community and creative activities. By 2017, Redruth Revival had raised the funds to purchase the site; the units quickly attracted tenants and regular market days were re-established.
Stuart McLeod, Director London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We are thrilled to support Redruth Revival CIC and help them to work up their proposals to redevelop the historic Buttermarket in the Cornish town of Redruth, an important complex of historic Grade II Listed buildings within the Conservation Area and Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Thanks to the money raised by National Lottery players, plans will continue to be developed to restore the market courtyard, provide improved workspaces for local businesses and involve a wider range of people in exciting year-round programmes of activities and events”.
Gavin Richards, Programme Manager, Architectural Heritage Fund said: ‘The Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) is delighted to be supporting this important project in the heart of Redruth. This landmark listed building offers huge potential for reuse as a social enterprise hub and events space, meeting a real need in the town centre. It is exactly the type of project that AHF’s Transforming Places Through Heritage programme was designed to support, working alongside Historic England’s High Street Heritage Action Zones to revitalise historic town centres. Our £59,850 Project Development Grant will enable detailed plans to be developed for the site.”
In 2019 Redruth received the news that its bid to become a High Street Heritage Action Zone had been successful, with the Buttermarket identified as a priority project for the scheme. Grant funding from Historic England through this scheme of £735,000 towards the anticipated total project cost of £3.4 million was agreed in June 2020 and Redruth Revival rapidly brought together a highly experienced team, including Thread Architects, to progress plans for the site’s conservation and redevelopment and early in 2021 the adjoining Wheal Peevor Purser’s Office was acquired as the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
The redevelopment proposals for the Buttermarket were submitted to the Local Planning Authority in the summer of 2021 and were approved in November 2021; they can be viewed on the Cornwall Council planning portal at
Work on the major Stage 2 application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund was undertaken at some speed in order to meet the late February submission deadline – this was achieved and we are now waiting for a decision on this, due in June all being well. In the meantime we have been successful with our bid for capital funds from the Architectural Heritage Fund, with an award of £250,000 from their Transformational Project Grant scheme. This means that if we are awarded the Lottery grant then most of our capital funds will have been secured and work will be able to start on site in the autumn of 2022, with completion expected in early 2024.
Judy Davidson, Chair of Redruth Revival CIC said: “This is a crucial step towards realising our vision of turning our historic buildings into a vibrant hub in the centre of Redruth where new entrepreneurs can develop their businesses, local traders can sell their products and everyone can shop, eat, socialise and enjoy events in the Buttermarket.”
