Preserving Birmingham’s buildings

• Jun. 3 by Katie Graczyk (1)

Our team for conservation hadn’t done any articles on building and historic conservation in Birmingham.  I wanted to add an article on this topic to have our area more rounded in Birmingham conservation scoop.

The Conservation Trust for Birmingham have already had several different achievements including but not limited to Perrot’s Folly, Brewmaster’s house, Station Road Cottages in Erdington,  and 69 & 70 Great Hampton Street in Hockley.

The Trust is a charity which seeks to “preserve and enhance Birmingham’s threatened architectural heritage” who works with Birmingham City Council.  You can read more about their charity goals from their link online.

According to Birmingham’s City Council site, we have nearly 2,000 listed buildings in Birmingham. These buildings are protected under the Birmingham Plan.  They also have program which through talks, lectures and open days provides education to the public about these historic buildings.

Currently, The Conservation Trust are working on two projects:  The Newman Brothers factory in the Jewellry Quarter and The Brandwood End Cemetery.  These are the only projects listed on the site as current.  When visiting the page, you can see why projects may take a decent amount of time.  Several people must meet to coordinate funding, design elements and obtain planning permission for each site.

Once work has begun,  in the case of The Newman Brothers factory, every move has to be calculated.  Their site states the next steps in restoration including-

• raising £3.9 million for the project
• detailed design work
• Hope to start on the site by the end of this year
• 12 months on site
• open in 2011 to visitors

The same guidelines apply to the Brandwood End Cemetery project.  Their next steps in this project will be:

• Full conservation survey of buildings to assess corrections
• assess cost and building use options
• £ limit isn’t stated, but money will be fund raised to support the project

On the website you can listen to a podcast from the Friends of Brandwood End Cemetery who are a charity working alongside the council and the Trust for this project.  The podcast discusses the progress of improving the Brandwood End Cemetery site and how the community feels about this location.  They additionally discuss the value of this Victorian built area.  It also argues that this site should be worked on with the community and have “as many people as we can get involved”.  They want to spark historical interest in this area.

The projects are ongoing and will be updated through The Conservation Trust for Birmingham and The Birmingham City Council sites.  To find out how to get involved visit their webpage.