Hopes that one of the city’s most important buildings can be saved from demolition and returned to its former glory have been boosted after experts successfully completed the repair of part of its crumbling exterior.
The future of the Grand Hotel, which has stood proudly opposite Birmingham Cathedral for more than 130 years – was thrown into doubt almost a decade ago when the hotel closed and a large chunk of the building’s facade fell onto the pavement in Colmore Row.
Owner Hortons’ Estates proposed the demolition of the building and its replacement with a new office development but these plans were dropped when, following an application by The Victorian Society, the entire building was listed at Grade II* in 2004
At the time it was feared the Grand would be condemned to standing vacant because of the cost of any repairs, if they were viable at all.
Now engineers have discovered a process to restore the damaged facade, offering the possibility that the building could one day be returned to use – although there are no guarantees just yet.
Hortons’ chief executive Tony Green said: “The Horton family has a close affection with the hotel as it was Isaac Horton, the company’s founder, who originally built it and there is a clear preference to save the existing building.
“We decided that despite the cost – which is several million to date – we would do the exercise properly to bring this to some conclusion. This meant that before we proposed something like demolition, which would have been unacceptable to many, we needed to find out what we could do about the chances of saving the building – not a half hearted attempt but get in top professionals to find out what could be done and what it would cost.
“Only if that process found that it couldn’t be saved would we propose a more radical solution which we could justify based on facts and expert opinion.
“The next stage is that the team is going to analyse the outcome of the trial and provide a report which we hope, will then lead to an agreement on a method of restoration for the facade that is agreeable to everyone – English Heritage, the city council and the Victorian Society – and then we will see what this is going to cost. We would hope that this would all be done by Christmas.”
The Victorian Society was at the forefront of the campaign to have parts of the Grand listed after it closed in 2002.
Stephen Hartland, chairman of the society’s Birmingham and West Midlands group, said significant credit needed to go to Hortons’ Estate for persevering with such a challenging project.
He said: “I must commend the team at Hortons’ Estate for involving The Victorian Society in their deliberations and plans. They have consulted us all along the way. They did not have to, but Tony is demonstrating an enlightened approach in involving conservation bodies like English Heritage and The Victorian Society, as well as Birmingham City Council.
“This approach augers well and has every possibility of heading off any confrontation, as we discuss all sorts of matters regarding treatments, approaches and methodology, so that there is a broad consensus achieved, almost on a daily basis, which guards against the more widespread practice of big public fall outs at the end of a lot of hard work on behalf of the owner, as the “done deal” is presented to interested parties as a fait accomplis.
“I would certainly like to applaud Tony and Hortons’ for their renewed commitment and desire to make this project work. The society is behind them.”
While Mr Green accepts there is still significant work to be done to get full agreement on the detail of the restoration, he said he is more confident than he has been for a long time that the hotel could once again be welcoming guests in the not too distant future.