The historic Mechanics' Institute is to be given a new lease of life, and YOU are being given the chance to have a say on its future use

AFTER nearly 20 years of uncertainty, the Mechanics Institute has today been given a new lease of life.

Now the new owners are calling on Swindonians to offer their ideas on what should happen to the 149-year-old Grade II* listed building.

London-based Forefront Estates has completed the purchase of the historic institute in Swindon's Railway village for an undisclosed sum, believed to be five figures.

Now Mathew Singh, Forefront's company secretary, wants to quell speculation that the Emlyn Square building will be turned into luxury flats and apartments. He has called on the public to suggest what its future use could be.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Advertiser, Mr Singh, 39, said: "I'm not a charity so I'll need to do something commercially viable with the building, but I'm throwing it open for suggestions.

"I'm happy to talk to the New Mechanics Preservation Trust and anyone in Swindon who will work with the building. I wouldn't have minded a library, but that's not going to happen. I have seen what the mood is like in Swindon and people now have the chance to have their say. This is the last chance Swindon has got to make this building work."

Mr Singh, who came to England from India in 1967 and spent three years as a child growing up at the family home in Station Road, says he will treat the Mechanics' "like one of his own homes".

The history of the Mechanics is fraught with legal difficulties and arguments between the various owners, Swindon Council and the New Mechanics' Preservation Trust the pressure group formed in 1995 to campaign for the building to return to public use.

Built in 1854 by the Mechanics' Institute Committee, the building boasted a reading room, curved ceiling and a marble staircase. But over the years the building has fallen into disrepair and been used by squatters, drug addicts and vandals. It is on the English Heritage Register of Buildings At Risk.

Earlier this year, the Advertiser published an exclusive photograph illustrating the building's dilapidated state. Floorboards had rotted, beer cans and syringes littered the floor and vandals had daubed graffiti on the walls.

Swindon Council's Robert Bruce, team leader of conservation and design, said: "There are no fewer than 82 listed buildings in Swindon's railway area. Most are cared for, including those rescued from ruin and brought back to life as a Designer Outlet Centre.

"The Mechanics' Institution has been the most striking exception to this achievement. The financial, legal and administrative implications of acquiring and repairing large, derelict buildings are significant. A regime change from neglect to care is what is needed."

Forefront Estates is the holding company for the building, an offshoot of Quest Corporation Limited, the company behind the purchase of the Mechanics', as revealed in the Advertiser in February.

Martha Parry, spokeswoman for the New Mechanics Preservation Trust, said: "We couldn't work with the previous owner and I'd be very happy to speak to Mr Singh. I'd like to find out what ideas he has for the building because it isn't commercially viable."