Report - Christopher Wray Lighting, Nee H W Landon Birmingham, June 2012

[dweeb]

The lights will be coming back on at the former Christopher Wray Lighting Factory as a developer plans to bring new life to one of Birmingham’s most historic buildings.

Birmingham-based C-Zero has agreed a deal with Christopher Wray whereby it will restore and develop the former factory premises, and make this fascinating building an integral part of the development of Birmingham’s Eastside.

The Christopher Wray building on Bartholomew Row is one of the most historic and intriguing empty buildings in Birmingham city centre. It has evolved since the mid 18th Century from a row of houses to a light industrial complex. In many ways its development over time has been a microcosm of the development of Birmingham. Its last use was as a factory and showroom for Christopher Wray lighting, but it was vacated in 2003 and is now in poor condition, providing a home to 150 pigeons! An application to demolish the buildings on the grounds that they were beyond economic repair was turned down in 2011 after objections from conservation watchdogs and the amenity societies.

Significantly the Christopher Wray building sits right next to the new Eastside City Park, and this provides the key to its future. It is one of few heritage buildings which feature in the Eastside Masterplan, along with Curzon Street station. C-Zero is looking at a mix of uses for the site, including student accommodation, small offices and retail. It is proposed that central to the scheme will be a new brewpub, whilst a wine bar could exploit the extensive cellars.

C-Zero is focused on sustainable development. The adaptation and reuse of historic buildings is an inherently sustainable activity. The energy embedded in them is an investment. Informed, careful adaptation can not only reduce the amount of energy expended in creating new development, but also achieve greater energy efficiency, sustaining the utility of historic places into the future. C‑Zero will use the development to demonstrate techniques for improving the energy efficiency of historic buildings, while new buildings on the site will be to the highest environmental standards, in line with the rest of Eastside’s aspirations.

The development is a challenging one, which C-Zero relishes. Director Simon Linford describes the opportunity: “The history of this site is one of change, of adding and subtracting buildings as their use has developed, and as the surrounding environment has changed. For the buildings to survive into the future this process needs to continue. The key to constructive conservation is re-use – these buildings have evolved over 250 years, and will now evolve once again.â€￾

I've had my eye on this place since I first moved to Birmingham. Originally a row of town houses, the building has undergone the usual transformation into a factory with typical period workshops to the rear. From what little paperwork I found inside it seems that Christopher Wray was once Landon & Brothers, who also made lighting, as well as companion sets, automotive pressings, metal spinnings and aeroplane components during the war.

I really enjoyed finally seeing inside. It had an air of George Barnsley to it, and despite being pretty devoid of stuff we did find boxes of patterns for spinning, as well as some pressed components and other bits and pieces related to lighting manufacture.

Here is a photo I took a while ago, before the scaffold went up.