I’m an experienced project manager with an impressive record of conceiving and delivering major programmes and projects in charities, cultural heritage, social enterprise, education, the creative industries and media sectors
Case study: The Horton, Epsom
I was founding chair of this grass-roots heritage and arts charity set up to save and restore a derelict Grade 2 listed building and open it as an arts centre. (The charity’s full name is Horton Chapel Arts & Heritage Society). I stepped down as chair in 2022, remaining a trustee until the end of my final term in 2023.
The Horton opened in 2022 and continues to go from strength to strength as a cultural attraction that brings people to Epsom from all over the world (footfall already above 30,000 from a standing start) to experience the beauty of the building and its grounds; performance arts; creative classes; talks; gallery and exhibitions; corporate space hire; and an excellent hospitality offering
I led a team of trustees who delivered a complex £4m multiple-funded project (including NLHF) involving multiple stakeholders to open a self-sustaining non-profit arts centre in an abandoned Grade 2 listed heritage building in Epsom.
The project had no operational staff until 2022, so my role was a fully hands-on project leadership position, and involved establishing the charity as a CIO; recruiting the board of trustees; negotiation of 125-year lease with Epsom & Ewell Council; bid writing and fundraising nearly £4million; grant reporting to funders including the National Lottery Heritage Fund; management of professional consultants; devising and running tendering processes for multiple contractors through the RICS stages for the restoration and refurbishment project; financial oversight and cost control; obtaining planning and listed building consents; heritage conservation planning; management and maintenance planning; business planning and strategy development; licensing; stakeholder engagement; risk management; brand development including establishing web site and owned social media channels; installation of ticketing systems; marketing and PR strategy; audience development; safeguarding; HR strategy; GDPR; volunteer recruitment; community engagement; venue hire strategy; events planning; commercial partnerships and much more.
£2m+ of funding raised from National Lottery Heritage Enterprise programme; Architectural Heritage Fund; Power to Change; Viridor Credits; Institute of Conservation, among many others
Negotiated and administered £1.5m of S106 funding via Epsom and Ewell Council
Established trading subsidiary, The Horton Epsom Ltd, for the in-house hospitality and other commercial aspects of the operation, including venue hire
Implemented the important permanent exhibition about Epsom’s history of mental health delivery including music therapy, in which the building played a role throughout the 20th Century.