'The moss contains asbestos': Roof needs to be replaced at one of the Black Country's most historic glassworks
The roof of one of the Black Country's most important historical industrial buildings needs to be replaced, planners have been told.
Ruskin Mill Trust has applied to Dudley Council for permission to replace the roof of Glasshouse College in Amblecote, formerly the Coal Bourne Hill Glassworks.
The site in Wollaston Road was home to one of the earliest known industrial glass workings in north-west Europe when Thomas Bradley Jr established a works on the site in 1691.
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However, the trust said the building in question, which has Grade II listed status, dated back to the 19th century..
It was later used as the Thomas Webb and Corbett Glassworks, which became Royal Doulton following a takeover in 1969, and production ceased in 1999.
It was acquired by the Ruskin Mill Trust in 2000, which works with young people with autism and other learning difficulties, and continues the glassmaking tradition using the original moulds.
A statement for the trust said: "The workshop now used as the admin block is19th century, and typical of a late 19th century industrial building.
"The existing roof is likely to date from the 1950s and is covered with asbestos shingles, these are in very poor condition and a section failed in the recent poor weather"
The report said that because asbestos was used to bind the roof together, it would not be possible to repair or replace it.
"The moss that sits on the east elevation also contains traces of asbestos and so is classed as hazardous waste," it said.
"The proposal is to lift the shingles and replace these with natural slate in blue which it is likely to have been originally."
A gantry crane to the north of the workshop will also be painted blue to match under the proposals, which will now be considered by Dudley Council's planning department.
