Find out more about our plans to restore Oldway Mansion.
Oldway has been at the heart of Paignton for many years and is one of the largest and grandest Victorian buildings in the Southwest.
The much-loved community asset needs a new lease of life, and we are committed to identifying a sustainable and resilient future for the building.
Although the mansion and other buildings on the site have been empty for several years, local volunteers have worked hard to keep the gardens open to visitors.
Thanks to National Lottery players, we secured nearly £240,000 to run a ‘Developing a resilient future for Oldway’ project. This project explored and considered longer-term options for Oldway Mansion, the wider estate and gardens and produced a detailed Masterplan and Conservation Management Strategy.
We have assembled an expert project team that will be delivering Phase 1 of the Oldway Mansion restoration project.
Phase 1 of the restoration project is being funded by £1million committed by us, and £8million of government funding.
To ensure that our restoration efforts are both effective and respectful of Oldway’s heritage, we need to fully understand the building. We’ve been gathering as much information as we can on the building, as part of this work we have also:
Watch this video to learn more about developing a 3D model of the building.
In early 2025, physical work starts to repair the roof of the main Mansion building. There are approximately 11 different types of roofs, meaning that one section at a time will be carefully repaired. Roof repair work is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
This work is a major step forward in restoring Oldway Mansion, but there is still a long way to go.
In preparation for repair work to begin, we have had to make some vehicle access changes.
We closed the car park at Oldway in January to allow for our contractor to set up their site compound.
From March, site hoarding, scaffolding and a large crane will be delivered to the site. In preparation for this we have had to change the access route to Little Oldway Residential Home. This now means that access to and from Little Oldway is via Oldway Road.
The grounds of Oldway remain open to the public.
Watch Cllr Chris Lewis, Deputy Leader of the Council talk about our restoration plans.
The restoration of Oldway is one of our most complex regeneration projects.
The cost of fully restoring Oldway Mansion is forecasted to be in the region of £54 million. A co-investment and delivery approach will be needed, meaning restoration is likely to be phased over several years.
Any final plans for the site will need to ensure that Oldway has a viable and sustainable future.
Restoring Oldway will require us to work with our public and private sector partners, including The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.
Additional traffic lights are needed to ensure vehicles from Little Oldway Residential Home can enter and exit safely onto Oldway Road.
We understand that temporary lights are not ideal. An application has been made for permanent lights to be fitted in the future. When the permanent lights are in place, the lights will only be triggered when a vehicle is exiting Little Oldway.
Unfortunately, there is a need to have ‘no parking’ bollards at some junctions that join Oldway Road. The reasons for this are:
This does result in the loss of some on-street parking.
To help residents, we have removed the two-hour parking limit on Oldway Road.
We regularly check the operation of the temporary lights.
There may be longer waiting times during peak hours, such as school drop-off and pick-up times.
Drivers who chose to ignore the sequencing of the signals are putting other road users and pedestrians at risk.
Any problems with the operation of the traffic lights should be reported to SWISCo. Report a traffic light fault.
There is no easy solution to repairing the wall that runs along Oldway Road. The wall is linked with structures that are behind it, each with their own complexities.
Due to Oldway’s Grade II Listed Status, any work requires input from heritage specialists including Historic England who we are engaged with.