THE New Life for City Buildings project in Truro has awarded its first grant, marking a milestone in its aim of revitalising the city centre by supporting the refurbishment, renovation and repurposing of buildings and unoccupied upper floors.

The Truro Regeneration Company CIC (Regenco) board has awarded £147,679.97 towards the costs of converting an empty three-storey building in New Bridge Street, previously used as a restaurant, into two apartments on the first and second floors housing up to eight people, with a retail unit on the ground floor.

Truro Development Company Ltd, owned by Tony and Cynthia Martin, acquired a year ago. Work is scheduled to be completed by summer 2025.

Led by Truro City Council, the New Life for City Buildings project was awarded £3.3-million of Town Deal funding to support property owners to transform empty floors into high-quality living and working space and, where appropriate, to buy and regenerate unused buildings.

Those applying for grants are normally expected to contribute at least 50 per cent of the cost of the works and are responsible for overseeing the construction. However, a lower business contribution may be possible in exceptional circumstances.

Set up by the council to deliver the project, Regenco has been considering a number of applications spread out across the city centre over the past few months.

“We are delighted to have awarded our first grant and look forward to seeing people moving into these new living spaces in the centre of the city “ said chairman Rupert Hume-Kendall. “This scheme is a great example of breathing new life into a historic building by bringing a redundant space back into sustainable use. We are currently assessing another 10 applications for other buildings, and look forward to announcing further grants in the coming months.”

Tony said the grant made a big difference to their plans. “We took the decision to buy this incredible building, which we believe was used as offices by Furniss biscuits in the early 1880s when their factory was based in Truro.

“We were originally planning to just tidy the building up but when we heard about the possibility of applying for a grant, we thought we might be able to do something much more special.

“We love the idea of more people living in Truro, and are excited at being able to give a new lease of life to this beautiful building at the same time as providing high-quality accommodation in the city centre.”

Tony and Cynthia hope the project will be completed by the end of May and are looking forward to handing over the keys to the first tenants.

Anyone interested in taking part in the scheme can request further information and an application form by emailing [email protected]