Burslem Building Improvement Scheme (THI 3) Progress of works Wedgwood Institute, Queen Street, Burslem Art school and library originally completed in 1863 with additions in 1869 and 1880 - this Grade II* listed brick and terracotta building has a richly ornamented façade and is arguably the most impressive looking building in the city. It is currently closed and some emergency repairs have been carried out. Proposals for the future use of the building are being discussed. Built in stages from 1859, by public subscription, and at an estimated cost of around £4,000, this remarkable building is named after Burslem’s iconic pottery-maker Josiah Wedgwood. The building stands on the site of the Brick House Works, which were rented by Wedgwood from 1762 to 1770. Original plans for the institute were created by G.B Nichols. The foundation stone was laid on 26th October 1863 by future Prime Minister William Gladstone. The amazing façade features designs by Robert Edgar and John Lockwood Kipling (father of novelist, Rudyard Kipling). It memorialises Wedgwood and celebrates the achievements of the enlightenment movement. It includes inlaid sculptures of pottery workers and processes, zodiac-sign mosiacs, terracotta panels that illustrate each month of the year, and a statue of Wedgwood himself. It also features portraits of Wedgwood’s fellow ‘principal’ Lunar Society colleagues - sculptor John Flaxman, scientist Joseph Priestly, business partner and industrialist Thomas Bentley. The Wedgwood Institute became a centre of excellence for the arts, sciences and business. It provided classes for the working men of the community. Notable students included novelist Arnold Bennett, ceramicist Graham Moorcroft, and physicist/ inventor Oliver Lodge. Art students ceased using the institute in 1905 when the Burslem School of Art was opened. The institute remained a library until 2008 and has been used as an annexe of Staffs University and Stoke- on -Trent College during its lifetime. The Wedgwood Institute has been disused since 2010. Scheme Details Wedgwood Institute - The Princes Regeneration Trust has procured Purcell Architects through MYTENDERS who have designed a programme for First Phase Emergency Works including a detailed schedule of works specifications and drawings for this Grade II* listed building. William Anelay contractors have been procured and appointed. The project is planned to be contracted and on site in February 2015. The main construction works will commence in February 2015. Works Value: £854,129 ARCHITECT CONTRACTOR Purcell Architects , Focus House, William Anelay Limited Heritage House Millennium Way West, Murton Way Osbaldwick Phoenix Business Park York, YO19 5UW YO19 5UW Nottingham, NG8 6AS The Leopard, 21 Market Place, Burslem The Leopard is one of Burslem’s most famous and interesting buildings. In continuous use as a public house since at least 1765 (and refronted c.1830), the Grade II* listed building is famed for, amongst other things, a significant meeting in March 1765 between promoters of the Trent and Mersey Canal, including Josiah Wedgwood and James Brindley, as Burslem cemented its place in the history of the Industrial Revolution. In the early 1800s The Leopard was a major coach station and ticket office on the Post Coach Express route, which operated from Liverpool to London and The Potteries to Manchester. Passengers could connect to Exeter and Bath via this service. The pub was also used as a parcel depot. During the 1870s a three-storey extension was added and The Leopard became a hotel with over 50 rooms. Unfortunately, the ambition for the hotel to become the 'Savoy of the North' faded. The rooms were sealed off between the 1930s and 50s and preserved exactly as they had been left. These rooms and other interesting features, such as the hidden tunnels, have become popular attractions. The Leopard - The completed historic restoration of the external fabric of the building included overhaul of the roof and chimneys, windows along with replacement lead work, rainwater goods, repairs to existing render, rainwater good (cast iron), masonry and render repairs. Restoration of this key historic Grade II* listed building, located in the heart of the town, the works have resulted in the building being secured and remaining in use as a public house, while additional floor space has been brought back into operation to expand the facilities. Works Value: £172,675 (including ERDF extension) ARCHITECT CONTRACTOR CTD Architects Wensley Contracts Clerk Bank House The Works Clerk Bank, Leek Alcester Road ST13 5HE Redditch. B98 9EJ The Old Town Hall/Ceramica, Market Street, Burslem The Old Town Hall was completed and opened in 1857 on the site of the previous town hall. The older building is a Grade II* listed building and was recently designated by the Victorian Society as one of the most important civic buildings in the UK. An extension was completed in 2003 on the land where the bandstand, gardens, public toilets and Market House once stood and both buildings were opened as ‘Ceramica’, a pottery heritage centre and exhibition space. The centre closed in 2011. Plans to open the buildings as an annexe to Haywood Sixth Form College are currently being discussed. Proposal Town map – 1851. Showing the location of the buildings. SCHEME DETAILS - Wood Goldstraw Yorath and EC Harris are working with Haywood Academy to develop the plans for the regeneration of Grade II* listed Burslem Town Hall and Market Place Public Realm. Plans have been submitted for approval and detailed specifications are being prepared. The project has gained planning approval from Stoke-On-Trent City Council. SOTCC Cabinet and Council have endorsed release of the town hall to the Haywood Academy – granted by full council on 4th December 2014. First phase of works are anticipated on site in QTR 1 2015. Finalising Public Realm works will conclude the Burslem Building Improvement Scheme in QTR 3 2015 utilising the balance of ERDF investment. Works Value: Public Realm estimated at £660,000 (ERDF only investment) Works Value: Conversion and restoration to Haywood Academy c£3m with assistance from the THI grant fund to support restoration works to Burslem Town Hall. ARCHITECT - wood|goldstraw|yorath, CONTRACTOR -To be announced. Churchill House Regent Road, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire 2 – 8 Queen Street, Burslem – The Old Co-operative Situated along the westerly edge of Swan Square and Queen Street, ‘The New Co-operative Emporium’ department store was commissioned by the Burslem Co-operative Society and was planned and designed by architects Watkin and Maddox. It was completed and opened in 1932. The co-operative, a subscription-based society for the mutual benefit of members, was formed in Burslem in 1901 by working men from the community. They opened a small shop in Newcastle Street to ensure subscribers paid fair prices for decent food and goods. Members also enjoyed a range of other benefits, including a share of any surpluses in the form of dividends on purchases. Many subscribers would allow these dividends to accumulate. Share capital at the end of 1901 was £175. By 1932 it was £1,209,533 and membership had gone from 200 in Burslem to 50,000 across North Staffordshire. This impressive Art Deco building was a product of the society’s great success and subsequent expansion. The Co-operative store traded in the building until the late twentieth century. Since then parts of the building have been used for office space, small retailers have operated from the lower floors, and it remains home to a snooker club. The lower floors have been vacant for a number of years now. Taken from a 1932 Co-operative pamphlet advertising the new building: A broad flat architrave of pearl-black polished granite "frames " the shop windows the framings and transomes to which are of polished staybrite steel. Grey glazed terra-cotta has been used for the architraves to the windows above running through the two floors with the cast Iron breast fillings between. The frieze and cornice are also of grey terra-cotta, a small amount of ornament being introduced which is finished with green glaze. The steel stanchions dividing the bays are covered with a hard multi- coloured hand-made brick. All the windows are of steel specially designed by the architects with ample opening casements. Work in progress The basement floor is finished with oak blocks. A broad staircase, finished in terrazzo, connects the storeys, with an electric passenger lift to the staircase well. A NOVEL feature is the furniture display window, the floor of which is connected to an electric lift. This enables the furniture display to be arranged in the basement and raised to the window display level, and permits constant changing with the minimum of disturbance. SCHEME DETAILS – Grant assisted works on this building will be completed in December 2014 and will enable 572sqm of floor space to be brought into use, with the creation of 2 jobs. Works will also restore the historic fabric of the building. Due for completion in February 2015. The client is currently interviewing potential tenants who have shown interest in operating from the building when the works are complete. Works Value: est. £372,070 ARCHITECT CONTRACTOR Design group NINE Limited Kettle & Talbot Ltd, 64 Uttoxeter Road 15 Falcon Road, London, SW11 2 PJ Longton, Stoke on Trent, ST3 1PQ St. John’s Square, Burslem The contemporary layout of Burslem has been recognisable since the 1600s. The site for St. John’s Square can be seen clearly on historic maps of the town. Seventeenth and eighteenth century maps, along with trade listings from the early nineteenth century, show that there were a number of trades and services operating from the square, including a smithy, ironmonger and crate-maker. By the mid- nineteenth century there had been rapid growth of business activity in the square, which included bakers, shoemakers, confectioners, watch and clock makers, a restaurant and a chemist.