The Pump Room building on the Crescent site will undergo an extensive refurbishment over the coming months so that it can house an interactive visitor centre, tearoom and heritage experience that will be open to the public free of charge.

This marks the start of a project – backed by a £23.8million HLF grant - that will repair and conserve the whole of the Crescent and bring it back into use for the first time in 23 years as a thermal spa, hotel and heritage centre.

[quote=Jonathan Platt, Head of HLF East Midlands]"Today is a milestone that marks the start of a whole new chapter in what is one of the most important Georgian buildings in the country."[/quote]

Jonathan Platt, Head of HLF East Midlands, said: "the start of work today is a milestone that marks the start of a whole new chapter in what is one of the most important Georgian buildings in the country and it is the last piece in the puzzle of the reinvention of Buxton as a tourist destination… Special thanks must go to National Lottery players for making this possible."

Buxton Crescent was built by the 5th Duke of Devonshire between 1780 and 1789 as the centrepiece of the Northern spa town. It featured an assembly room, two hotels (some of the first purpose-built hotels in the country) and six lodging houses. It became County Council offices and the town's library in 1970 but has been empty since 1992.

There are a series of special events and tours planned at the Crescent over the next few months, including a spectacular Christmas lights show projected onto the building every evening until Sunday 3 January.