The heritage of Wolverhampton is to be put under the spotlight with city centre buildings of special interest to be illuminated at night.
The historic Molineux Hotel will be the first to get the star treatment when its current £3 million revamp is completed later this year.
Next in line is expected to be The Chubb buildings, and more could follow under the plans to brighten up the city’s skyline.
The move is the brainchild of Wolverhampton Development Company (WDC) which has been set up to drive the regeneration of the area.
Chief executive Stephen Catchpole said today: “The city has some fabulous historic buildings that stand proud during the summer but quickly disappear from view as the daylight fades in autumn and winter.
“We want to highlight the heritage of Wolverhampton and tasteful illumination would help this.
“St Peters Church is a marvellous example of what can be done and we want to repeat that throughout the city.”
Some of Wolverhampton’s newer buildings already light up the sky. The University of Wolverhampton’s Art and Design School’s building, opposite Stafford Street on the Ring Road, has brightly-coloured flashing lights and the transformation of the Graiseley flats saw beams of light added to the exterior of the blocks.
WDC has already committed £25,000 to pay for the Molineux Hotel to be lit at night after its current redevelopment. Major restoration work has been continuing for months transforming the building into a new home for the city’s archive service.
They are now in talks aimed at organising similar illumination of The Chubb building with around £15,000 earmarked for the project and have asked Express & Star readers to help identify other buildings that would benefit from a spell in the limelight.
Coun Paddy Bradley, Wolverhampton City Council’s cabinet member for regeneration backed the move. She said: “We need to take the city forward and illuminating some buildings will improve the look of Wolverhampton after night fall.
“The Molineux Hotel and Chubb building are great assets and it is a wonderful idea to highlight them in this way. Obviously the illumination will need to be handled sensitively because we do not want anything garish.
“Flashing lights and neon may be fine in Blackpool but not here. However, I fully support the pin-pointing of our finest historic buildings. Speaking personally I would like to see the former Sunbeam works being added to the list.”
Further suggestions of what buildings could be illuminated can be sent by post to Stephen Catchpole at the Wolverhampton Development Company, The Technology Centre, Wolverhampton Science Park, Glaisher Drive, Wolverhampton WV10 9RU.
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