Refurbishment work is continuing apace at one of the town’s largest residential properties, the grade II listed building in Hilltop Drive formerly known as Hill House Hospital and originally built as the Rye Union Workhouse in 1843.
According to reports, the 1,706 square metre building at 4-20 Hilltop Drive was purchased for just over £2M in June 2020, with planning documents naming the architect’s client as London-based Ashbourne Investments.
Heritage planning consultancy Chilcroft said in 2020 that the building would continue to be used as “16 residential units”, with renovation aimed at being “high quality, consistent with securing the listed building with a long-term sustainable use”. Renovation work includes replacement windows and doors, repainting, mortar and render repairs, roof repairs and internal replastering.
New windows have already been installed but one informed source revealed that significant work remains on the Victorian building’s interior.
It’s unclear how long the extensive repair and refurbishment will take and exactly what the building will be destined for when the work is completed. The term “residential use” could conceivably comprise rental of the units to local people, or sale of the individual units — and there has even been speculation that the flats may be offered as holiday lets. The latter may well prove an unlikely option, given the highly seasonal nature of the district’s tourism.
The planning conditions imposed by RDC in July 2021 were strict and comprehensive, with the council keen to ensure its local plan core strategy policy EN2 on “stewardship of the historic built environment” is adhered to.
Rye Foreign Parish Council wrote to RDC a year earlier to propose that some missing chimney stacks be rebuilt, that gutters and drainpipes should be made of metal, not plastic, and that external doors should be hardwood to reflect the early Victorian design. RFPC’s view was that the building was “converted unsympathetically during the late 20th century”.
The original Union Workhouse was reportedly designed for 436 residents, yet the 1881 census recorded only 134 inmates and nine staff members. After 1930 the property became a public assistance institution also called The Retreat and between 1949 and 1980 it was known as Hill House Hospital, providing care for the mentally and physically handicapped. A nurses’ home, which still survives, was attached to the building in 1949.
In other news, the Memorial Hospital has revealed that construction of its delayed 60-bed nursing care home project next to Rye Medical Centre is expected to start “later this year”. The £8M project, a joint venture with Greensleeves Homes Trust, was originally greenlighted by Rother District Council (RDC) in April 2018 but the 18-month building project was expected to start two years ago. As part of the deal, 15 places in the home will be “community beds” reserved for Rye and district residents.
The project was not without controversy as all six GPs at Rye Medical Centre opposed the plan on the basis that the nursing home would impose an unacceptable “clinical burden” on their practice. The Campaign to Protect Rural England also pointed out that the site forms part of the High Weald AONB and the home would have “a substantial visual impact on the AONB itself”.
It’s understood that surface and foul water drainage issues have posed some tough challenges to the developers to date, with RDC stressing that drainage solutions are “integral to the whole development” to avoid flooding and prevent water pollution.
Image Credits: Andrew Morris .