Sad news

[plasticpigeon]

Sorry if this is noyt of general interest, but it is close to my heart.

One of the best surviving Edwardian municipal buildings in Birmingham I'm sure will not be around too long. Moseley Rd baths is a fantastic grade II* listed pool. I learned to swim there in the 80s. It was a bit run down then but it was kept going. Over the years successive councils have let it rot. There is a large group lobbying for its restoration and things looked good recently when the Heritage lottery fund promised to give 5 million for repairs if the council gave 3m. The council has changed hands now from a conservative lib dem alliance to labour and the new council have declared they want to shut the facility and they are trying to cut the hours for the adjoining library. I'm certain both facilities will soon be closed, and if the building survives 10 years after that it will be a miracle. Here is a website with many pics of this amazing building. Birmingham is such an ugly place, and getting worse every year. It depresses me to the point where I think I must move soon just for my own sanity. I can't fathom the depressing madness of the council in my area.

Please have a look at this site to see how amazing this place is, built when people took pride in their area and were striving to make things better.

http://moseleyroadbaths.co.uk/

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm probably spouting rubbish here but I do wonder about the costs of these sort of restoration projects. £5m is an awful lot of money and I wonder if it is always spent in the most effective way - effective for the building, that is.

Even paying people £40k per year, £5m would buy 125 man-years of labour. When we read about all the amazing projects that people on PPUK have undertaken on their own houses, surely it's possible to find another way to repair such buildings and bring them back to life? Find 10 committed people to work on the project as the same 'labour of love' that PPUKers lavish on their own projects - except pay them, say £40k per year - and let them get on with it for 5 years, or maybe less. That's 'only' £2m, plus another, say, £1m that would buy an awful lot of basic building materials.

But, of course, no-one would be trusted with such a job without a huge amount (and cost) of 'expert' management and all manner of other overheads, even though the majority of the nation's heritage is already in the hands of well-meaning amateur property owners.

I've no doubt that there would be a higher risk of things going wrong, but would that really be such a bad risk to take when the alternative is for the building to continue to decay beyond the point of redemption and then being completely demolished to make way for a new office block anyway?
Or perhaps that's the plan?

 

[plasticpigeon]

I think it is a building that the council have been trying to dispose of for a long while. I also am under the impression that running a swimming pool is not really a profit making business and more of a social service. I'd like to see it in the hands of enthusiastic amateurs, but unfortunately i'd be surprised if the revenue from the pool would pay for the running of the pool, let alone repair and restoration. One alternative that might work is to run one pool and turn the other one into a more profitable venture such as a gym. Maybe not a purists approach, but if it makes it viable that has to be good. I think it needs to be seen as an asset though. Since the last administration spent 192 million (over 400m with interest repayments over 40 years) on a new central library built in a silly place, motivated only by politics, that is is ugly, isn't really a library, and people don't really want, it makes the 3 million to save this wonderful place look trifling.

I have a feeling that another wonderful place near me, Highbury Hall, which was Joseph Chamberlain's (father of Neville Chamberlain) home, will suffer a similar fate soon, as the council try to dispose of awkward assets (it doesn't actually own the building, but it is the sole trustee). If I've finished my little house by the time that is in danger, I shall have to try and do what you say, and get a group of people together to take it over. I already suggested guerrilla restoration of Highbury hall to some of the friends of Highbury, but they seem paralysed and can't think outside of their claustrophobic boxes, and I'm too busy in my house to go down there with a toolbox and paintbrush, but would and will if I get more time. However I am also expecting the birth of my first child in the next week or two, so I will have other priorities for the foreseeable future!!!

 

[Feltwell]

Moseley Road baths is a gorgeous building - so sad to see it in that state.

PP, if you like old swimming pools then the Woodcock Street baths in Gosta Green - what is now Aston University - are well worth a visit. Nowhere near as special as Mosely Road on the outside, but the pool on the inside is much nicer than the surviving one in Moseley Rd. They are owned by the University now but are open to all.

http://www.playedinbritain.co.uk/news-full/20100711-birmingham-sports-complex.php

I really like that pool - the little changing booths round the edge are such a nice feature (scroll down on the link above), it was always a pleasure to swim there when I was a student.

 

[worms]

However I am also expecting the birth of my first child in the next week or two, so I will have other priorities for the foreseeable future!!!

Good luck with the arrival of your new foal!!!!

Squab, surely? And presumably it will be a hatching rather than a birth?

However it arrives, hope it all goes well!



Edit: Just realised this is being posted under Sad news - perhaps we need a Good news thread to put all the births etc on!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Yes, things have got a bit confused, Birmingham City council bad, new squab good!

 

[88v8]

Vandals are never in short supply, and many of them are running our Councils. The corrosion associated with swimming baths in general has long been a problem, so I can well imagine that the crasses in the Council would like to be rid of it. However, it should not be lawful for any owner of a GII* building to decide that they will just let it rot.

Hope your happy event will distract you from these negative aspects.
As to moving house, I fear that someone of your sensibilities will find distressing trends pretty much everywhere in the built environment, unless of course you move to Poundbury.

Ivor