PLANS to extend the grandstand at Phyllis Court Club in Henley have been backed by the town council.

The private members’ club wants to modernise the Grade-II listed building, which is used for dinners and weddings and has a prime view of the Henley Royal Regatta finish line.

Under the plans, a new public entrance to the grandstand would be created, two lift towers installed and the toilets rearranged to meet disabled legislation requirements and make room for a larger kitchen.

The new building would be 25 per cent bigger.

A heritage statement by Hives Architects says: “The proposed extension to the building would connect entirely with the existing extension added to the rear elevation in 1993, the upper structure added at the same time, and the lavatory block rebuilt in 2001. The height of the proposed extension would not be greater than that of the existing canopy. The height of the lift towers is set by regulation and the rest of the structure would be lower than this and subservient to the existing.”

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s planning committee, chairman Dieter Hinke said that an extension to a listed building must be sympathetic to the original structure.

He said Phyllis Court Club had been consulting with South Oxfordshire District Council for more than a year before coming up with its plans.

The grandstand has been extended over the years and Councillor Sam Evans described it as a “hodge podge” and welcomed the proposal.

She said: “It is very clean and very sympathetic to the area. It looks to me to have had an awful lot of thought put into it. I think they have done a good job.”

Councillor David Silvester, a member of Phyllis Court Club, said: “The front will look practically the same. The rear has been largely changed for the lifts for people who are disabled and I think the whole building will be much more accessible.”

Councillor David Clenshaw noted there had been no objections from the Henley Society. Cllr Hinke said that English Heritage had not yet commented on the application.

The committee unanimously recommended that South Oxfordshire District Council approves the application, subject to the view of English Heritage and the grandstand retaining its listed building status.

The grandstand, which dates from 1911, was designed by Reading architect Frederick G Sainsbury, who also designed Shiplake memorial hall. It is thought to have opened in 1913 and there is evidence that the structure was dismantled, perhaps partially, at least once early in its life.

In 1937 the club planned to make the grandstand “fitted up so as to be used all-year round instead of only four regatta days”.

Ideas included a roller-skating rink but the plans did not go any further due to the Second World War.

The post-war years were difficult for the club, which survived by selling off parts of its land for the construction of flats and so the maintenance of the grandstand was neglected. It lost its upper canopy and some of its distinctive iron stanchions and ad-hoc alterations such as the single-storey block that houses the kitchen and toilets were added.

In 1969, the Henley Conservation Area was designated and in 1974 the grandstand was listed but it continued to deteriorate.

In 1981 temporary support was added to the structure and in 1986 a structural survey concluded that the structure was unsafe. The club appointed Hives Architects and structural engineers Beers to make the grandstand usable again.

In 1993, a series of changes were made to the grandstand, including structural works. In 2001, the ancillary areas were turned into a glazed entrance lobby.

In 2009, the Henley Conservation Area appraisal designated both the clubhouse and grandstand as landmark buildings.

Meanwhile, the club is planning to building a health club for its members.

The move comes after plans for a 7million leisure complex in partnership with Nirvana Spa and Leisure were scrapped early last year.

That deal was designed to guarantee the long-term future of the club and involved an unused piece of land on the east side of the visitors’ car park.

For the scheme to have gone ahead, 75 per cent of the members would have had to be in favour.

Barry Hardman, chairman of Phyllis Court Club, said the new plan was a “medium to long-term project”.

“We are calling it a health club because that’s the name of the game nowadays,” he said. “It is about looking after the health and welfare of our members.

“We are still in the early stages of project management and planning. We are talking three to five years, depending on many factors.”

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Published on 05 November 2012