Stourbridge conservation project set to steam ahead in 2026 with 'game-changing' new heritage centre planned
A project that is breathing new life into a former 19th-century ironworks site in Stourbridge is set to steam ahead in 2026 with ambitious new developments on the cards.
The Riverside House project has transformed what was an overgrown old industrial site next to the Stourbridge Canal and River Stour into what has been dubbed the ‘Black Country’s Lost Gardens of Heligan’.
Although not a major tourist attraction like the famed Cornwall gardens that were painstakingly restored over a long period, Riverside House has come a long way since it all began in 2017.
The tucked-away waterside site is becoming a much-valued resource for the community that inspires wellbeing and improves biodiversity, offering people with mental health problems and learning disabilities chance to get outdoors and gain practical skills and a sense of purpose.
Formerly completely overgrown after lying derelict for years, it now boasts a market garden, off-grid café and craft shop created from shipping containers, a wetland ecosystem treatment area to purify greywater, a beehive, a waterless compost toilet and oak framed structures that can be used for activities, workshops and meetings.
Most recently a new decorative corten steel fence and doorway has been installed where the site borders the canal towpath. The striking fence panels, which are lit up at night with spotlights, reflect the site’s heritage and aims.
The Enovert Community Trust, which has supported various building projects on the site, gave £38,000 to help fund the new fence - behind which a new pathway has been created, which will act as a new entranceway in the future, and work is under way to transform the former walled garden to the rear of the derelict Grade II Listed ironmaster’s house.
Lloyd Stacey, founder and director of Riverside House, said: "We've had some funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, that was distributed by Dudley [Council], to develop the walled garden, so we're beginning to put in some paths and we're going to put in a bricked seating area with a pergola over it, and some raised beds and also some lighting, and develop the walled garden into a really special little place where people can come and sit and relax and enjoy it."
