Serving the Teesside Business Community | 37
“The critics don’t understand what my
motivation is. Accusing Acklam Hall of being
sold to me on the cheap is a low punch.”
TeesBizQuiz
Neil’s answers are in bold.
Transporter Bridge or Newport
Bridge? My grandad worked on it
North Yorkshire coast or North York
Moors?
Saltburn or Redcar?
The past or the future?
Live to work or work to live?
Teesside or Tees Valley?
Beer or wine?
Working early or working late?
Buying or selling?
Parmo or a lemon top?
Captain Cook or Steve Gibson?
Twitter or Facebook?
Brains or beauty?
Talking or listening?
project to date. From a state of long-
term disrepair, a property dating back to
1683 has been restored in all its majesty,
featuring high-end restaurants, business
accommodation, wedding and function
facilities. Alongside it, a medical village is
being built to serve the local population.
But local politics have meant criticism has
never been far away since Middlesbrough
Council, acting on behalf of the land’s
owners, Middlesbrough College, sold the hall
to him in 2009.
“I’ve stood fast on this project for ten
years and it’s been wrongly criticised in the
press, which is disappointing,” he sighs. “The
critics don’t understand what my motivation
is. Accusing Acklam Hall of being sold to me
on the cheap is a low punch.
“It’s because they don’t understand the
complexities of pulling together a scheme
that involves the responsibility of taking
on a Grade I Listed building and coming
up with something to ensure its current
sustainability.
“There are plenty of people who have
criticised the scheme, most of them
politically-motivated, and there have been
plenty of stories in the local press, but
nobody actually asks for my opinions, which I
find really bizarre.”
While there’s still much work to do,
Whittingham, 50, is confident he is on the
right track towards finding the balance to
achieve the aim of giving Acklam Hall long-
term sustainability as part of realising his
long-held ambition for it to share its grounds
with a private hospital and health village,
along with 56 new homes already built on
either side of the property.
He has personally led the restoration of
the historic hall over many years, but his true
passion remains with creating community-
based health villages.
He explains: “I try to pull together what I
call health villages, featuring GP practices,
assessment, care, medical and surgical
facilities. That’s what I’m creating here.
“That was my motivation for actually
acquiring Acklam Hall after two years of
negotiations and it’s what has driven me
to restore the hall to what you see today.
Purchasing the land was always on the
agreement that I could develop the medical
village alongside the hall.”
So where do you get the capital to restore
a 17th Century hall that has fallen into
complete disrepair? And how do you ensure
it has a long-term sustainability plan?
The first part of that solution was to sell
some of the land for housing. “That wasn’t
my favoured choice because it’s an area
where I lack expertise,” admits Whittingham,
who lives on the outskirts of the village of
Potto, where he grew up. “But it did bring
private sector capital - and it’s that capital
which has been and continues to be spent on
the hall.
“We’ve had to spend in excess of £4m
on demolition wo rk of the school buildings,
infrastructure, new access roads, sewers,
dealing with the woodland and pond, and so
on.
“The other part of the project that I
wouldn’t expect the cynics to know is the
need for a long-term sustainability plan for
a project which will remain expensive on an
ongoing basis. That’s what the health village
will provide as it starts to contribute to the
annual estate-wide management costs.”
Further controversy came when the local
press revealed that only a small portion of
the £907,000 fee originally agreed for the sale
of Acklam Hall and its grounds had actually
been paid. Again, Whittingham is keen to
explain the background to a complex project.
“It was English Heritage, in their role of
ensuring Acklam Hall wasn’t just sold into
the private sector without protection, who
structured a development plan that included
obligations on the college and the council to
set aside any aspirations for capital receipts
until the hall was repaired. The agreement
was that only once it was repaired and
operational - which it is now - the council could
start receiving capital receipts for the land via
projects on the site.”
Now he hopes to leave behind the
controversies, as attentions turn to the next
phases of the site’s regeneration. Work is
already well underway for the creation of
a medical centre that will feature a 20-bed
in-patient ward, three operating theatres,
endoscopy suite, diagnostic suite including
x-ray and ultrasound facilities, mobile MRI
facility, physiotherapy suites, consulting and
treatment rooms.
Planned for launch by Christmas, the state-
of-the-art health facility will be run by partner
Ramsay Health Care, a long-established
company that already runs more than 40
private hospitals across the UK. The hospital,
which will be part of a wider health village, will
act as an independent contractor to the NHS,
specialising in surgery specifically related to
hip and knee procedures. It will be followed
by a 60-bed transitional care facility, work on
which should start next Spring.
“Health villages like this are designed to
relieve pressure on hospitals such as James
Cook,” he says. “Hospitals are supposed to
save lives – they were never designed for
long-term care but they have become very
expensive hotels for a lot of people who
shouldn’t be there.”
Subject to detailed planning permission, the
next part of the project will be the creation of a
35-bedroom aparthotel that will adjoin the rear
of Acklam Hall itself.
With work scheduled to start in the Summer
of 2019, the plan is for the £6m aparthotel to
complement two parts of the project, serving
Acklam Hall’s weddings and events’ guests,
whilst acting as convenient accommodation
for the various medical staff and patient
families who will visit the health village.
“The whole project should be complete by
2020, so we’re about 75% there now,” says
Whittingham. “It’s been a very complex project
but it will be fantastic when it’s complete. As
for the hall itself, I consider myself to be a
custodian of a building that’s been around 350
years. I hope I can look back and feel I did it
proud.
“My strong links with the town mean I’ve
always considered myself as a Middlesbrough
man. I hope Acklam Hall helps to spread a
positive message further afield about what
this town can deliver.”