The campaign group has published plans to keep the building – which was previously scheduled for demolition – at the heart of the Airport, enhancing views of the original terminal with its art deco features and scaling back development it says would overshadow the listed building.
Save Jersey’s Heritage says its plan – for a new arrivals hall and baggage reclaim area, a more modest refurbishment of the existing passenger pier and the use of the original terminal as a meet-and-greet space – would also save considerably on previous development proposals costed at £42 million.
Marcus Binney, president of Save Jersey’s Heritage, said it was important that the 1937 building was not simply mothballed or turned into a museum.
‘We were pleased to hear the group chief executive of Ports of Jersey say that they would develop options for how it will be incorporated into their future investment plans,’ Mr Binney said.
Under Ports of Jersey’s original plan, the 1937 building – which had been thought to pose a safety threat – was to be demolished and the arrivals hall incorporated into the current departures building in what was described as a ‘one-box’ solution, connecting it with a double-deck passenger pier.
Save Jersey’s Heritage propose an alternative which would replace the existing baggage hall – which obscures the view of the historic building for arriving passengers – with a new baggage reclaim area but route arriving passengers from there through the 1937 building.
It says that the building’s top two floors could include a restaurant in the same space as the original one, airline offices and, perhaps, Jersey Met which was moved out some years ago in anticipation of the building’s demolition.
‘We think this scheme will give the 1937 terminal back to the people of Jersey. They will be able to enjoy it as they did when it was opened 84 years ago. And, given the world situation, it is the sensible and sustainable thing to do,’ Mr Binney added.
The new proposal for the 1937 building follows its reprieve from demolition in February this year when acting director of civil aviation Inez Bartolo reversed a direction to Ports of Jersey to demolish it because it was thought to pose a safety risk, falling within a restricted zone which extends at right angles to the runway.
In addition to making proposals for the use of the original building, the new report ‘puts on record the events leading up to the saving of the original terminal’. Those events would have been examined in public in an inquiry which Environment Minister John Young ordered following the intervention in the States of former Planning Committee chairman Deputy Russell Labey. However, that inquiry was cancelled when Ports of Jersey announced that they were content to retain the historic building.
Save Jersey’s Heritage say that the decision in 2014 to grant planning permission to demolish the terminal building was affected by the fact that the Planning Department and its minister were not told of the option of commissioning an aeronautical study into the building as an alternative simply to removing it.
In the event, Save Jersey’s Heritage commissioned its own expert study which showed that the building did not pose a danger.
Their new plans for the airport quote Amir Ramezani of Avanti Architects which conducted an initial appraisal for the campaign group. In relation to the historic building he said: ‘These types of buildings often appear highly constrained with technical deficiencies and financial challenges. They also often give a false impression of being difficult to change in a sensitive manner. Our experience has shown there are invariably many opportunities that can be explored to deliver meaningful benefits to the client.’
The JEP approached Ports of Jersey for a response to the new proposals but had not received a comment by the time of publication.
