Partnership Meeting Updates

We reported on our preliminary discussions with the National Heritage Lottery Fund and our plans to apply for up to £2m for the repair, restoration and refurbishment of the cafe. We are confident that we fulfil all of the NHLF’s four investment principles. We expect to put in a full ‘expression of interest’ with all our design scheme and estimates for the necessary work. We are aiming for December 2024 to potentially submit this to the HLF when we get the RIBA Stage 2. We have sent a request for the £25k of CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) funding to the Council’s Local Area Committee’s for Graves Park and Beauchief & Greenhill. We are working towards co-ordinated social media and fundraising planning for the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership. The design team for the Rose Garden Cafe at SCC is meeting fortnightly and has been looking at options for the internal layout of the cafe and the most effective use of space, based on much of the feedback from our public consultation earlier this year. There will be a presentation on the design team’s work so far at the next meeting of the Partnership. We have a new fundraising total which £12,761 which includes the JustGiving Appeal run by the Friends of Graves Park for the cafe appeal.  We are counting to learn lessons from our way of working together and we are documenting the progress we have made and the challenges we face towards our ultimate goal of restoring and refurbishing the cafe for the future. The council outlined its developing plans for a new asset management plan for all heritage assets in Sheffield which will include Graves Park and the Rose Garden Cafe. We now have a Rose Garden Cafe Appeal Community Fundraising Group and we were updated with all the ideas and proposals from the first meeting held on 21st October and it will meet again on 25th November at 6.00pm. The Partnership is logging all fundraising plans to co-ordinate activity.

Good news ! £12,326 has been raised for the Rose Garden Cafe via the Friends of Graves Park and £608.10 has been donated so far by Julie & Kelsey, the operators of ‘Dukes on the Rose Garden’ which is donating 10p from every cup of coffee sold in the cafe. So, thank you for your help so far. We’re also planning to draw down the £25,000 (CIL) funding committed by local councilors to pay for architects, design and survey fees. The council is also contributing to this from its Essential Compliance and Maintenance fund.

We have agreed to hold a community fundraising meeting on Monday 21st October at 6.30pm in the Rose Garden Cafe in Graves Park. We also met with the SCC design team to develop the delivery plan for the restoration project and met the team on site and looked at the options for the design brief and in particular the cafe operator’s requirements in providing a modern cafe environment for staff and customers. Members of the partnership spoke at an event organised by the Sheffield ‘Festival of the Mind’ in the spiegeltent in Barkers Pool on Tuesday 24th September. More than 50 people attended this and it was well received. All of our fundraising plans will be published on the Partnership’s ‘Have Your Say’ page https://haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/rose-garden-cafe

We are now seeking your help to raise £25,000 which is 10% of the cost of repairing the front wall of the cafe. We are halfway there towards this target and we need your help to achieve this. We went through the cost estimates (£2m) for the full restoration of the cafe and assessed what is essential and what is desirable in order to reduce the overall costs and to access offers of pro-bono or in-kind support for the restoration. We are going full steam ahead towards fundraising for this objective. 

We discussed a draft legacy statement for the cafe building which will outline how the cafe will be used and maintained following the restoration. A full calendar of fundraising event will be published shortly and we need your help to get involved.

We welcomed Councillor Richard Williams the Chair of the council’s Charity Trustee Sub-committee, who visited us to observe the partnership discussions.  We discussed the successful reopening of the Rose Garden Cafe on Wed 7th August and we were overjoyed at the reaction of the residents of Sheffield and supporters who returned in their hundreds to enjoy the café, its internal seating and facilities. We reviewed the new 10 year Heritage Lottery Strategy to understand their four funding principles and how our ambition and funding requirements for the restoration of the cafe fits within these principles.

We discussed the initial design cost estimate for the full restoration and refurbishment works which are circa £2m. We also reviewed the design team fees for the independent quotes to take us up to the critical RIBA Stage 2 design which will be sufficient to satisfy a funder. The Rose Garden Cafe Partnership has already identified a budget of up to £75,000 needed for those fees from funds made available by the council from LAC funding and its own Essential Compliance and Maintenance Fund. 

We heard a positive report from the last meeting of the Council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee which will next meet on  9th September and will focus on the funding element and the reopening of the cafe. Our next Partnership meeting is Friday 6th September 2024

‘We discussed the timetable for the removal of the internal scaffolding, replacing the flooring and the re-opening of the cafe on Weds 7th August 2024 at 9:00am. We are having a special ‘Grand Re-opening’ event for everyone to join us for this milestone. 

Members of the Rose Garden Cafe Partnership will have an information and fundraising stall in the cafe on this date to update you on our fundraising plans and next steps for the restoration and refurbishment of the cafe.

We will have an estimated cost plan for the restoration and refurbishment for our next Partnership meeting on 9^th August 2024. 

We also discussed current, proposed fundraising ideas, activity and potential funding sources of grants. This includes local sponsored walks and ongoing fundraising by the Friends of Graves Park which has raised £11,193.14 via donations, which will be the main focus of our next meeting. 

We are providing a further progress report to the Council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee on September 9th 2024.

December 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the grant of the land by JG Graves and it is our ambition to have the Rose Garden Cafe fully restored and refurbished by this date.'

‘We are excited and delighted to bring you this latest update from the Rose Garden Café Partnership. We met with Jenny Bulmer the conservation engineer from Alan Wood & Partners, to view the results of the new ground investigations and structural findings. This paves the way for the reduction of the internal scaffolding in the café. Our priority is now to reopen the café’s internal seating and catering as soon as possible. 

The conservation engineer’s report includes a recommended solution to the lean on the front wall of the café, which will form part of a comprehensive and fully costed plan for the restoration and refurbishment.

Chris Hallam, Partnership chair ‘ I am extremely proud of the way the partnership is working. By commissioning experts, using existing information such as historic drawings and reports from the archives and the fresh ground investigations we have reached a significant milestone. It really shows what can be achieved when community organisations and Sheffield City Council agree to work together, find different ways to move forward. I want to extend my thanks to all involved for the hard work in getting us here.’

We also discussed and finalised the terms of reference for the Rose Garden Café Partnership which is awaiting approval by the council’s Charity Trustee Sub-Committee on Tuesday 16th July.

The partnership is looking forward to seeing you at the ‘Digging Deeper for All’ celebration day organised by the Friends of Graves Park On Saturday 6th July at Mount View Methodist Church on Derbyshire Lane, Sheffield from 10.30am-3.00pm. Come and say hello and find out more about our work to save and restore the Rose Garden Café.’

We discussed the scope of works required for a comprehensive design scheme for the café, based on the recent public consultations and the forthcoming appointment of an architect to produce a full design scheme and estimate for the required works.

We also discussed the future management of potential sources of funding for the café and agreed a timetable for the presentation of the final report into the ground investigations undertaken by the structural engineer, which will be available at the end of June.

We also agreed the details of an updated report and representation from the partnership to the Council’s Charity Trusts Sub-Committee on 24th June 2024 about our next steps.

Fundraising activities for the restoration of the café are continuing by all parties involved.

We are excited to share the summary of the recent public consultation about the Rose Garden Café to be published next week. We now know that we received responses from across the city, from the Stocksbridge Valley in the north to Chesterfield in the south and beyond, demonstrating just how widely the café is used. 

The new structural investigations will be undertaken next Thursday and the report will follow. Both of these things are informing the design brief and costings of the restoration and refurbishment.

 A new poster will be in the café and animal farm about how you can contribute and donate to the current appeal for the restoration. 

Huge thank you to everybody that participated in the public consultation. We received 1557 responses to date packed with great ideas; these will be invaluable in our funding bids. Results will be shared soon and will inform the restoration and refurbishment.

The structural engineer is making good progress. They have identified some additional investigations needed which will put back our original timeline for the report. When we have a new timeline we will share this with you.

We discussed avenues of funding and to support this we are promoting our Just Giving Rose Garden Café fundraising page. Graves Park Rose Garden Cafe Exterior Refurbishment Campaign - JustGiving. There will be posters in the Café, around the park and local area. 

We discussed the progress on the public consultation survey on the café which is currently happening and closing on 19th of April. We held a further event in Graves Park on Saturday 13th of April and we urge people who haven't yet completed it yet to do so before the deadline on April 19th. We are expecting the results of the structural engineer's report into the problems with the wall in mid-May. 

Our structural engineer has been to the café and started work on the assessment of the front wall. The public consultation is up and running and we are urging everyone to take part. Our formal terms of reference are in the process of being ratified. We had a positive discussion about the design and construction process along with how that will inform our funding approach.

Today we launched the public consultation and agreed date events for in person engagement in the Park. We have launched our Have Your Say Rose Garden Café Partnership page which will provide regular updates and has the online survey. https://haveyoursay.sheffield.gov.uk/rosegarden-cafe

Structural engineer Alan Wood & Partners appointed to provide solution for the front wall, starting w/c 18th March and report will be available to Partnership within 7 weeks. 

We have agreed our vision statement:

The Rose Garden Café Partnership’s vision for the Rose Garden café is....

To understand the current structural state of the building so that it can be fully restored as quickly as is feasible with improvements and refurbishments, for it to be operating as a café to serve the community as a sustainable building for future generations.

We want to do this by…

Creating a strategy which considers cost effectiveness, quality, accessibility, environmental impact and the future, so that we can obtain funding to achieve our vision.

A press release will follow shortly. 

Chris Hallam our new chair led the meeting and we are finalising the Partnership’s Terms of  Reference. The online public consultation will be launched on March 15th. Ideas boards will be in the café from the 14th. The consultation closes on April 19th. When the consultation begins we will share the links for you to contribute your views. 

We are inviting our newly appointed chair, Chris Hallam to our next meeting. After detailed discussion we are updating our proposed terms of reference. Now our partnership is fully formed, Chris will be joining us at all future meetings.

 Two structural engineers, with relevant heritage experience, have been approached and are now providing a fee and timeline for undertaking the detailed structural design of the front wall of the café.  

 We discussed funding possibilities and mechanisms which we are continuing to update and follow up.

 We made good progress with our consultation approaches and timeline. We want you to give us your views and opinions. All responses are greatly appreciated; you will be able to respond online and via paper copies available shortly!

Moved forward and agreed on appointment of appropriate engineer to assess issue with front wall and develop structural design, methods of consultation to establish what people would like from the restoration and refurbishment beyond a brew and a butty. SCC will continue to assume liability of the café and restoration with the Partnership as an advisory body.

Today the Rose Garden Café Partnership met and agreed practical next steps towards the restoration and refurbishment of the café, alongside the final phase to establishing the partnership. A route to appoint a structural engineer who is either on the Conservation Accredited Register of Engineers (CARE) or has heritage experience was agreed and will be actioned ahead of the next partnership meeting on February 2^nd. The February 2^nd meeting will focus on two key items, funding applications and public engagement (including consultation). Partners will prepare and progress information on these two priority items ahead of this meeting to enable the meeting to be focussed on decisions. In the meantime, the partnership has made further progress to appointing an independent chair and today met with a chair applicant.