The West Midlands Combined Authority has awarded funding to four historic buildings following the demise of the Crooked House last year.
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00:00 [Sounds of a train passing by]
00:15 So Architectural Heritage Fund is working with the West Midlands Combined Authority.
00:21 Using some funding from West Midlands Combined Authority, we've been able to grant some early stage funding
00:27 to a number of organisations including the Old Printworks to look at future plans for the buildings that they've got.
00:34 So here at the Old Printworks they're looking at accessibility improvements to the entrance
00:40 to make it easier to get in for a variety of people and basically to improve the building
00:47 so that it's more sustainable for the future.
00:50 We currently estimate that we're welcoming around 20,000 people to the building each year
00:56 and that is fantastic but we're also very aware that we're not 100% accessible
01:04 so this funding would help us to develop and finalise some accessibility works basically.
01:17 They'd be a little bit more comprehensive than just basic accessibility.
01:23 A much more welcoming entrance, a lift up to three of the floors
01:29 and also some other improvements that would go along with that and also help the space to just feel nicer and more usable.
01:39 Could we potentially see more business for us?
01:44 We actually already operate at a pretty full level.
01:50 We have a void rate generally in our studios of less than 5% and a lot of enquiries all the time
01:58 but we would be creating about three more meeting rooms as part of the plans that we've got.
02:07 We'd actually be taking one studio away unfortunately because we have to do that in order to fit the lift in
02:14 but definitely in terms of common space and space that is available and open to the public
02:22 it would be a huge improvement and potentially that could bring in an additional income as well.
02:30 Crooked House was a really terrible outcome and I think it shows if buildings are not valued
02:38 and as Crooked House really was, it can really lead to a lot of risks
02:43 and buildings in use, looked after, is really really important to long term sustainability
02:49 and I think it was a real wake up call, the Crooked House incident
02:52 to making sure that our heritage buildings are looked after and maintained into the future.