Meeting to discuss nine historic buildings in Wolverhampton

Nine of Wolverhampton’s best-known historic buildings will come under the microscope at a meeting to discuss the management of the city’s architectural heritage.

The city’s Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton Civic Hall, the former Beatties building in Victoria Street, and the old Lloyds Bank in Dudley Street are among the buildings that feature in a report that will be considered by the council’s economy and growth scrutiny panel.

The former Heath Town Baths, the old Darlington Street Methodist Church, and the empty Hooded Ram bar also be considered, along with the Lockworks Cinema in the Chubb Building, and the Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Members will be told how the council secured £1.8 million for essential repairs to the roof and fabric of the Art Gallery, which attracts 80,000 visitors a year.

The council was carrying out critical repairs and modernisation to the 142-year-old building in Lichfield Street, said the report, ‘safeguarding a grade II building and its collections, supporting long-term sustainability and continued public use’.

It said 30,000 people had visited the Lockworks Cinema in the former Chubb Building, since it opened in July last year following a £2 million revamp co-funded by the council.

It said the council had also spent £2.9 million maintaining the Grand Theatre over the past 10 years, attracting about 300,000 visitors a year and contributing £10-12 million to the local economy.

It added that the Civic Hall, now marketed as The Halls, had attracted 500,000 visitors since it reopened just over three years ago.

The report said that the council had established a viable future for the former Heath Town Baths building, which has been empty for more than a quarter of a century. In February this year the authority handed the building over to Gaddu Associates on a long-term lease, the developer planning to convert it into a banqueting hall and conference centre.

It said the council had also secured progress on the future of the former Lloyds Bank, putting the building’s owner in contact with a developer which plans to convert the upper floors into flats, while retaining the ground floor for commercial use.

It said the council had attempted to work with the owner of the Beatties building, which has been empty for more than six years, but following a lack of response is now taking enforcement action against the company. The council was now considering the use of compulsory purchase powers to secure the future of the building.

The council had granted planning permission for the upper floors of the Hooded Ram bar to be converted back to residential use, and was working with the building’s owner with a view to seeing the site redeveloped.

The report said: “Heritage buildings are a vital part of our sense of place, what makes us unique as a city, and what creates a sense of pride,” said the report.

“Wolverhampton takes a proactive, balanced approach to safeguarding heritage buildings, combining investment in its own assets, enabling private-sector reuse, and targeted intervention where needed.

“This approach focuses on securing long-term, sustainable use to prevent decline and ensure buildings continue to contribute to the city’s regeneration and economy.”

The report will be discussed at a meeting tonight (Wednesday).