The West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust submitted plans to Sandwell Council in March 2004 for the restoration of the historic Corngreaves Hall, a Grade II* listed building in Cradley Heath. The application for planning permission and listed building consent is the result of a lengthy period of consultation with local residents, Sandwell Council, the Architectural Heritage Fund and English Heritage.
Thankfully the powers-that-be have now confirmed Sandwell Council’s proposed support for this project is acceptable within the EU regulations on State aid, so the project partners have been asked to stop “treading water” as the project can now proceed. Unfortunately time taken to resolve the questions around State aid has delayed matters by several months; during that time a number of factors have combined to threaten the financial viability of the project:
all of the lead was stolen from the roof: although Sandwell Council has carried out a temporary repair with felt, the ingress of rain-water prior to the repair work being done has caused significant internal damage;
- interest rates have risen thereby increasing the cost of working capital loans; and
- the housing market has slowed, such that prices realised on the town-houses and apartments by the time they are completed and ready for sale may not increase sufficiently to recover the increase in costs.
The project team is therefore in the process of updating and reviewing all of the forecast income and expenditure for the project, to determine a way in which the project can proceed sooner rather than later. Their conclusions are awaited soon... Built around 1780, the Hall was originally home to the Attwood family, influential local ironmasters during the industrial development of this part of the Black Country.
Over its 200-year history, the Hall has passed through various owners and experienced numerous minor alterations. Over recent years it has been unoccupied whilst Sandwell Council have carried out essential maintenance and restoration work, and have looked to identify a new future for the building.
In 2002 the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust was invited to commission a feasibility study. This report concluded that the only viable future is to return the Hall to its original residential use, and recommended dividing what was a single residence into five apartments. Even then, subsequent professional advice and analysis has shown that the ongoing maintenance of the estate is only sustainable by adding a sympathetic new wing of a further six apartments.
Alan T Smith MBE, Chairman of the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust, explains:
‘Corngreaves Hall is a reminder of an extremely important stage in the development of industry in the Black Country. It’s also a fantastic building, and we’re really looking forward to seeing it fully restored and put to good use again. The local support we have received whilst consulting about our ideas for the Hall has given us the confidence to develop those ideas into the plans submitted today. Thanks are due to everyone who has helped us get to this stage, not least the Architectural Heritage Fund for providing initial grant assistance.’
Councillor Badham, Cabinet Member for Urban Form at Sandwell Council, has expressed his support for the scheme:
‘I fully support this application. The best way to protect an important building like Corngreaves Hall is to return it to a constructive use. I see this plan as an ideal solution for what has been a difficult problem for us.’
LYE & WOLLESCOTE CEMETERY CHAPELSI am pleased to report we welcomed 144 visitors (including WMHBT volunteers) to Lye & Wollescote Cemetery Chapels over the weekend of 8th and 9th September 2007 as part of the national Heritage Open Days scheme promoted by the Civic Trust and English Heritage. Thanks are due to the 13 WMHBT members who between them helped with preparing the building, then hosting visitors and made this such a successful event. The majority of visitors were from the immediate vicinity, although interesting that the event also attracted visitors from further afield: Wolverhampton, Evesham, Rugby, Brighton, and even Sweden! Thanks to some work beforehand by Dudley Council to remove the temporary internal wall, visitors this year were able to access both Chapels (last year we were restricted to just one Chapel). Visitors were able to view and talk-through the scheme of office-use and meeting-room use proposed by the Trust to secure the future of this Grade II listed building; as with the earlier public consultation findings, all were in favour of a new use that will preserve the building and most supported the proposed scheme, especially if it could provide at least some degree of ongoing public access.
The Options Appraisal report commissioned by your Trust was approved in September by a meeting of the Stourbridge Area Committee of Dudley Council (current owners of the building and part-funders of the report), following earlier approval by the WMHBT trustees and by the Architectural Heritage Fund (the AHF, main funders of the report). The AHF has subsequently approved grants to cover administration costs and my services as Project Organiser, to progress the project and in particular to prepare a grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund and to any other relevant funding sources.
One of my first tasks as Project Organiser was to invite tenders from conservation architects to start work on designing the work required to repair and convert the building. Consultations with local community groups and other potential users of the building have been carried out to determine the likely demand to hire meeting-room space and this information will then be used to develop a business plan.
FOSTER, RASTRICK & CO. FOUNDRY SITEWork is progressing on the Options Appraisal report commissioned by your Trust on the five listed buildings and two listed structures (the cast-iron footbridge and canal-side dry-dock) on this historic site.
The first draft of the report’s conclusions was presented to and approved by a meeting of the project steering group in November; the consultants then prepared a final draft of the complete report which was considered in January by the AHF (as main funders of the report) and by WMHBT trustees before being published.
All of the future-use options considered by the report offer a long-term viable future for each historic building with future income expected to cover ongoing maintenance costs. However in every case the costs of repair and conversion to create that new use are greater than the end-value, so for each option there is a financial deficit that will require grant support to cover the funding gap. The most effective option for each building will therefore depend upon (a) the overall use of the surrounding land and (b) the availability of gap-funding to support conversion to that particular use.
Consequently the report is expected to identify all options that are feasible given adequate funding, together with a calculation of the funding required for each one and potential sources. The next step for your Trust when the report is published will then be:
(a) to continue discussions with the owners over plans for use of the surrounding land and with Dudley Council on the likelihood of preferred uses being permitted;
(b) to seek to develop a partnership between potential funders and potential future-users; and then
(c) to produce a business plan based upon the option most likely to be funded and economically viable given the surrounding land use.
More details about the future-use options and funding required should follow soon when the options Appraisal report has been published. Watch this space.
