This campaign has now closed
Repair this grade 2 listed building and convert it to offices, a new sustainable use that provides it with a secure future, creates and supports local employment opportunities, and is in sympathy with its location adjacent to a cemetery.
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The Trust exists to safeguard buildings in the West Midlands of heritage significance and serves as the last resort for an "at risk" building when all other options for preservation have failed. The chapels building is a beautiful building and striking local landmark, dated 1878, a good example of Victorian Gothic style of church architecture and 19th century cemetery design: o the location is intended to replicate a landscaped park, with gatekeeper’s lodge and chapels located at the end of a tree-lined driveway; and o 2 identical chapels contained in a single building, 1 Anglican 1 non-conformist, either side of a shared central doorway. The cemetery continues in use but the non-conformist chapel was abandoned in the 1970s and the Anglican chapel since a fire in 1993 caused internal damage. The boarded-up chapels building attracts vandalism and anti-social behaviour. In addition to saving the building, the project aims to create learning and access resources to engage the interest of people of all ages to discover more about their local heritage and nature conservation, in particular via a resource-pack for schools, a nature trail, a history book linking the chapels building and cemetery gravestone inscriptions to local historical events, a project website, and an interpretation panel for viewing by all visitors to the cemetery. The total project costs are estimated to be approximately £1.34 million. More details are available on request including, for those interested in an office base, more on the attractive office accommodation that will become available as a result of this project.