‘Whole of Randalls worth saving’

Wednesday 10th June 2009, 2:29PM BST.

Vivienne Ferneyhough AN ARCHITECTURE expert is worried that Vauxlaurens Brewery will disappear completely if the historic building is not preserved.

Vivienne Ferneyhough (pictured), who has a post-graduate certificate in the archaeology of standing buildings, said that if Guernsey did not look after its heritage, it would end up with a gap in its history.

‘The Environment Department say that the house has the only significant architectural value of the complex, but in the UK, English Heritage has long been listing brewery complexes such as Randall’s.

‘Randall’s is unique in the Channel Islands and it’s only until very recently that it has not been occupied by the Randall family,’ she said.

‘If we don’t save buildings like this, we will have a huge gap in our history,’ she said.

Environment has put forward suggestions for the site’s use, including housing such as flats, staff hostels and sheltered accommodation.

It lists only the front part of the brewery, the house, as something to be retained.

But Mrs Ferneyhough said that there were many other architectural features that were worth saving.

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View more: Environment Department news, Randall's Brewery news.

1
Guern broad

June 10, 2009 at 7:52 pm

I do hope Environment wise up and start protecting our heritage, sometimes you need to do more than just what you see on the face/frontings of buildings.
Let us do more than just protect skin deep!
There are ways to work with listings, it does not mean the site can not be put to beneficial future use, but again somewhere someone will have to accept perhaps a smaller profit from the work, that old word, we have to accept that greed is detremental in so many ways.

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2
Jimbob

June 10, 2009 at 10:01 pm

I’m pleased to hear an appropriately qualified expert has come out to speak on this. I’m not familiar with the details of the building (or whether it is suitable for adapting to an alternative use) but i am in absolute agreement with her principles on this. I hope she is in a position to influence and advise decision makers.

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3
Mike

June 11, 2009 at 10:17 am

I agree with the previous posts, Guernsey needs to protect its heritage. States of Guernsey listen to the people.

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4
M King

June 11, 2009 at 2:23 pm

It is a little late to be worrying about Guernsey’s heritage when the Government have already lost us the original prison, a building of unique historical interest. Add to that the Royal Hotel, magnifiscent and The lovely house called Hiawatha that was left to go to rack and ruin, next to the royal hotel. The states would sell off their mothers’ to the highest bidder, nothing is sacred to them but monetary gain!!!!

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5
Martini

June 11, 2009 at 3:25 pm

Hmmmm. Certainly the front should be protected, and maybe even the side, but can any of us truly say there there are parts of the interior that should be too? I certainly can’t, probably becuase most of us ha never been inside the place, including Ms. Ferneyhough, I would suggest! Yes, I’m all for preservation, but lets be pragmatic too, and not just preserve simply becuase “it’s always been there”

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6
Paul Le P

June 12, 2009 at 12:21 pm

Some words of sense from Martini. By all means preserve the front but if the interior areas can’t be useful they should go to be replaced by something that is.

Besides to compare Guernsey to the UK is pointless. For a start the UK have slightly more land than Guernsey. I’m not for turning the island into Singapore but if there’s something already there in a built up area that can be tastefully rebuilt into a useful facility let’s do it.

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