QVH CDCs - East Grinstead Heritage Statement

The study area is the area within the Red Line Boundary and a 500m buffer area from that boundary. For the production of this heritage statement, desk-based research has been undertaken to identify and understand the heritage significance of heritage assets within the study area. Data sources used include: � National Heritage List for England; � a search of the West Sussex Historic Environment Record (HER) database for non-designated archaeological sites, find spots and non-designated historic buildings within the study area; � online local history sources; � an examination of local, regional, and national planning policies in relation to the historic environment; � an inspection of the cartographic evidence for the land use history of the site, including historic maps for the study area; and � an inspection of British Geological Survey (BGS) borehole records. The proposed scheme will not have a physical impact on the Jubilee Building. However, it will cause a significant change in the asset's setting, which will diminish the contribution that setting makes to the significance of the asset. The Jubilee Building currently has a close relationship with the gardens which it adjoins to the south-east, which are an integral part of the hospital's original design, intended to provide staff, patients and visitors space to recuperate, fresh air, and light through the windows into the Jubilee Building. Over half of the gardens will be built upon by the construction of the CDC, impeding the ability to appreciate this historic relationship. However, although setting makes an important contribution to the significance of the Jubilee Building, the asset's significance is notably provided by the building's architectural and historic interests. Most notably, significance is provided by its fabric and design as a 1930s hospital, and its association with notable surgical developments that occurred elsewhere on the hospital site. These elements of the Jubilee Building's significance will not be affected by the proposed scheme, and it will remain possible to understand and appreciate the Jubilee Building as an historic hospital building and the oldest building on the hospital site. Therefore, although the contribution that setting makes to the significance of the Jubilee Building will be substantially diminished, the significance of the Jubilee Building overall will be largely preserved. As such, the proposed scheme is considered to amount to less than substantial harm to the significance of the Jubilee Building. This harm will be weighed against the public benefit arising from the proposed CDC. The Historic Environment Record (HER) records no evidence of historic activity or archaeological evidence within the site or the study area. In addition to the Jubilee Building, there are four non-designated heritage assets within the study area. Two of these are no longer extant and two are farmsteads which do not have intervisibility with the site. As such, they experience no harm to their significance. Although the site is situated in an area of land which remained largely undeveloped up to the 1930s, levelling and raising of the site likely occurred during the construction of the Jubilee Building and its gardens, which likely disturbed any surviving archaeological remains. Overall there is considered to be low potential for remains to survive within the site. No evidence of archaeological activity has been found within the site or study area to date, suggesting that there is a low potential for archaeological remains to survive within the site. Additionally, although there is the potential for archaeology to survive at deeper levels, the potential for survival is overall considered to be very low. Overall, the proposed CDC is considered to cause less than substantial harm to a non-designated heritage asset, and no harm to any other assets.