Type=image;ImageID=14961;ImageClass=left;ImageTitle=Queen Street properties before the works;TitleClass=strong;
The scheme is backed by a grant of £864,100 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help restore historic buildings in Wolverhampton's Queen Street to their former glory.
City of Wolverhampton Council has also committed £250,000 of match funding to the overall project as part of its wider regeneration plans and £1.1 million will come from investment by the owners of the buildings who receive grants.
The first 2 properties are numbers 47, which is home to a solicitors' firm, and 48, for which the owners have received planning permission to convert into flats.
Both are Grade Il listed late Georgian townhouses and, before the construction of the Express and Star building, formed part of a continuous terrace of similar buildings up to the site of the Congregational Chapel on the corner of Princess Street.
The buildings remain remarkably intact both externally and internally and have many surviving features of interest.
The works, being carried out by Midland Conservation Ltd, will comprise repairs to the external envelopes including re-slating, making good chimney stacks, new leadwork, new gutters and downpipes, the overhaul and replacement of windows, and renovating brickwork, stone detailing, the front walls and railings.
The 2 properties will benefit from grants totalling just under £100,000 and the works are expected to be completed by summer 2018.
A further building, number 45, has also been awarded a grant of £65,050.
Similar works on this property are scheduled to start in May by the same contractors. It will be used for lettable office space.
City of Wolverhampton Council Queen Street Townscape Heritage Project Officer, John Healey, said: "We have been working closely with the property owners, and our project partners, to develop proposals.
"This will help breathe new life into the area and its businesses, while at the same time staying true to the history of these wonderful buildings in our city.
"As a council, preserving the rich heritage and conservation areas in the city is as important to our regeneration plans as the millions of pounds being invested in new development."
The council is working with other parties representing local community interests to deliver the scheme on Queen Street, which has many important listed buildings dating back to the early 19th century.
The Townscape Heritage Partnership includes the Wolverhampton Business Improvement District (BID), the Wolverhampton Civic and Historical Society, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton Cultural Arts Organisation, Wolverhampton Partners in Progress, Wolverhampton Society of Architects, The Friends of the Archives, Wolverhampton Building Regeneration Preservation Trust and Wolverhampton College.
The Queen Street Gateway Townscape Heritage Scheme also hosts various community engagement activities which can be viewed at The Queen Street Gateway Townscape Heritage Scheme Type=links;Linkid=10242;Title=newsletter;Target=_blank;.
- released: Monday 26 March, 2018