The Mansion — heart of Totnes High Street

A new lease of life…

The Mansion has lived many lives: as a home, a boys’ grammar school from the late 1900s, and a local comprehensive sixth form and adult learning centre from the 1960s. 

In 2016, Devon County Council (DCC) was the sole Trustee of the charitable trust that owned the building. DCC’s adult learning service (Learn Devon) ran a range of classes, and hosted the town nursery and library. However, significant parts of the building were underutilised. 

Collaboration and partnership…

Both DCC and local Totnes residents saw the need to better maximise the building’s space, for the benefit of local social enterprises, community education and recreation. While local organisations were working with DCC to form Caring Town Totnes — a practical response to austerity — an idea emerged: to asset transfer the Mansion building to the community. 

Without capacity to take ownership of the building itself, Totnes Town Council called for expressions of interest from local organisations. Totnes Town Council also needed to understand the viability of bringing the building into community ownership for local benefit.

So, the Totnes Community Development Society (TCDS) undertook financial modelling and found an annual £60k deficit in the existing operating budget of the Mansion, which was being met out of Learn Devon’s budget. The modelling also highlighted significant challenges for the next building manager (for example, the effects of years of irregular maintenance, decentralised information about building servicing and no up-to-date fabric and infrastructure surveys).

A gift to the community…

Talks and negotiations followed, driven by goodwill and a mutual commitment to building strong relationships. Once DCC was satisfied of TCDS’s ability to manage the building, it agreed to transfer Trusteeship of the charitable trust that held the Mansion. This came with an asset lock to TCDS, ensuring the building could not be sold and would continue to deliver on the charity’s objectives, and a three-year settlement of £180k to help TCDS generate new income through increased occupancy. 

Today the Mansion is a vibrant community hub, welcoming local people and visitors to work, mingle and create.

There’s something for everyone:

• Each day, streams of visitors enjoy hot drinks and delicious vegetarian food at the welcoming cafe

• The nursery, bike hub and town library are all conveniently on site

• Older adults attend tailored exercise classes run by Moved2Move

• Caring organisations, the Resilient Lives men’s mental health project and Totnes Climate Hub all have secure space

• Just off the Mansion’s beautiful, walled courtyard, visitors can find Mend Assembly, with its flagship community studio for textile repair and repurposing

• Studios and coworking spaces throughout the building host artists, local businesses and more

The Mansion keeps two large and highly sought-after spaces purely for sessional hire, making sure the local community has access to ad-hoc, affordable space as well as longer term leases.

"Totnes has a rich history of community organised activism, projects and events.

The Mansion represents all that is great and unique about Totnes, under one roof, enabled by a strong partnerships between community organisations, and Devon and Totnes Councils."

— Carly Trisk-Grove, Director, Totnes Community Development Society