The Restoration Project

The total project costs for the restoration scheme were estimated to be in the region of £890,000.

Part of this cost would be recovered by a sale of the restored building as a self-contained suite of commercial offices, but this left a significant gap of funding to be found.

As a recognised "Building at Risk" the target was to identify providers of gap-funding to enable the Trust to resolve this long outstanding problem, enhance the area, and re-introduce an historic building back into beneficial use.

In recognition of the architectural and historical significance of this building, financial support towards planning its restoration was provided to the Trust by the Architectural Heritage Fund, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, the Manifold Trust and Advantage West Midlands. Without this type of initial help, projects such as this one could not get off the ground.

Much of the grant awarded has been made possible by the local support of volunteers campaigning to save the building and in some cases making donations themselves to the fundraising appeal. The approximate value of volunteer contributions alone amounted to an amazing £35,000.

The excellent news received in October 2003 was a decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund to award a Heritage Grant of up to £627,000.

By March 2004 the Trust had raised sufficient funding from other sources to be in a position to approve a contract for the building work. The contractors began in April 2004 and completed their work in January 2005.

The restored building is now back in use as self-contained commercial offices, bringing important regeneration benefits to the area.