Yet, its location in the centre of the Yorkshire coalfield was both its source of riches and ruin. Local authorities, colleges and universities have all owned the house. Through them all, it suffered vast amounts of damage and decay. In 2017 it was purchased by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust in 2017.

The Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust was formed in 2014 consisting of a brand new group of local business people, landowners and historic property specialists. Their primary purpose is to see the future of the house secured. To achieve this, they required a Masterplan. This document would have to suggest how to overcome the enormous challenge of repairing a 400 room mansion and conservation of a Grade I listed stable block.

Tricolor led a dedicated Masterplanning Team to create a clear vision for the new Wentworth. Central to this was embedding community regeneration and social improvement for the Rotherham region into the project.

We worked with the Trust to design a sustainable income model based on an extensive programme of comparator research. This including over ten visits to comparator properties. Our site visits helping to contextualise and describe the unique nature of Wentworth. We created the mixed-use business model by partnering with the architects. This helped us to understand the significance, and opportunities, provided by each space.

We considered everything from residential properties, office units, holiday let accommodation, white wall gallery space, event and conference use, fine dining restaurant, gin distillery, wedding venue, hotel, spa and leisure facilities, equine stabling, and events programme. We market tested all the income generation options with stakeholders before presenting a shortlist of the most viable.

Tricolor designed a large public consultation for the Masterplan. We surveyed almost 1,000 local people including local villagers, staff and volunteers. With their help, we co-create the masterplan concept at every stage.

The final Masterplan was well received and presented to the Treasury at Downing Street in October 2018. WWPT are already implementing the Masterplan.