A grant of £864,100 to further develop the Queen Street Gateway Enhancement Project has been unlocked through the Heritage Lottery Fund’s (HLF) Townscape Heritage scheme, following an initial £40,000 of development funding.

City of Wolverhampton Council has also committed £250,000 of match funding to the scheme as part of its wider regeneration plans and £1.1million will come from investment by the owners of the buildings who receive grants.

The project will provide a limited number of grants to assist owners with essential repairs and improvements to their properties in Queen Street, one of the most historic streets in the Wolverhampton City Centre Conservation Area.

It will help to support the city’s interchange scheme, improving an important pedestrian route from the bus and rail stations through to the city centre’s main retail shopping area.

The council will be working with other parties representing local community interests to deliver the scheme over the next four and a half years - with work set to start in spring.

The Townscape Heritage Partnership includes Wolverhampton BID Company, the Wolverhampton Civic and Historical Society, Wolverhampton Cultural Arts Organisation, Wolverhampton Partners in Progress, Wolverhampton Society of Architects, The Friends of the Archives, Wolverhampton Building Regeneration Preservation Trust and Wolverhampton College.

Councillor Peter Bilson, City of Wolverhampton Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for City Assets, said: “We have been working closely with the property owners and our project partners to develop proposals. This will help breathe new life into the area and its businesses, while at the same time staying true to its history. It is a huge boost to the Council’s Public Realms works and multi-million pound regeneration plans as a whole.”

Queen Street has many important listed buildings dating back to the early 19th century.

Anne Jenkins, Deputy Director of Operations at HLF, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, we’re delighted to support a project that not only protects some precious built heritage but also contributes to Wolverhampton’s future. Townscape Heritage projects are not just about bricks and mortar, they are also about boosting pride in an area and providing opportunities for the people who live and work there.”

The project will also include a number of community engagement activities, such as the provision of heritage construction skills training in collaboration with City of Wolverhampton College, and the development of an app tour of the city conservation area.

Notes to editors

Queen Street was laid out at the beginning of the 19th century and contains some of the city’s most important historic buildings including the town’s first dispensary providing medical care for the poor, the first free library and the assembly rooms which were later converted into the County Court. The middle of the 19th century saw the opening of Wolverhampton’s two rival railway stations and Queen Street became the main route into the town centre for those arriving by rail until the 1880s when Lichfield Street was widened and extended. But Queen Street remained a key location for thriving businesses and became the home of a new prestigious headquarters building for the Express and Star newspaper in the 1930s.

Further information

Oliver Bhurrut, Communications Officer, on tel: 01902 551220 or email: oliver.bhurrut@wolverhampton.gov.uk