Why new heritage matters

The humble beginnings

Let us not forget the very humble beginnings. Anyone who is familiar with the sites of the major Sikh temples will recognise this picture:

• Areas in the less well served parts of town, properties in decay or in derelict state with mostly sub-standard housing needing urgent refurbishment. Quite often the areas were served with poor amenities, low quality of street furniture and poor lighting. Many of the buildings that the minority communities took over from the 1950s onwards were churches, school outbuildings and sometimes even cinemas which could no longer compete in their respective markets. These were areas of rateable value, needing high levels of investment and particularly, risk capital.
  It is generally known that the Sikhs, Hindus and Muslim communities saw these ‘opportunities’ as attractive options for developing places of religious worship and in some cases community centres which were connected to the temple or mosques. Taken together, many of these amenities offered accessible space for religious worship and when the religious programmes were over for the day, many a Sikh temple was quickly reconverted into a social space for serving meals and in some cases even celebrating cultural events. These humble beginnings saw the accumulation of savings, offering of voluntary labour to upgrade the premises and donations from members in the form of a single door, a carpet, a saucepan and yes, even loo rolls to equip the venues for meetings and events. Everything that cost money was welcome and accepted.
  
  
  These humble beginnings have seen the emergence of many success stories. Today, the Sikh communities, for example, can point to many premises which occupy prime space and provide large, well designed and well furnished temples, community halls and kitchens and dining halls. There is space for language classes and in a few locations, even the odd clinic. I estimate that there are over 350 Sikh temples in the UK today. A basis for this estimate and the cost of infrastructure will be discussed in a future post.
  
  
  It would be useful to offer a few examples, only if to ensure that any comparisons of the assets and quality of buildings compares like with like. Selected in no particular order, the temples in Southfields, Slough, Upton Park (Neville Road, East London), Southampton, Coventry and Birmingham’s Soho Road are major examples of not only high value premises but also how local areas have seen a slow but successful transformation over a period of 20 years. Then there are the major landmarks – the Sikh temple on Havelock Road in Southall, Middlesex and aforementioned temple and social complex on Soho Road are worth millions even in today’s depressed prices. The temple on Havelock Road is said to have cost £14 million and it is still being upgraded, pending completion.
  
  
  The next few posts examine how these examples of successful transformation have provided the impetus for local economic development by attracting thriving trade and commerce, car parks and...traffic wardens.