'Vital' work to safeguard heritage building begins

Vital safeguarding work begins on an iconic heritage building in Stoke-on-Trent on Monday, the city council has said.

The focus will be on the north east corner of Burslem's Grade II* listed Wedgwood Institute and is expected to take about six weeks to complete.

The Queen Street building is on Historic England's Heritage At Risk Register, where its condition is described as poor, while the town's wider conservation area is also on the list.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the work on the institute was part of wider safeguarding and improvement efforts to preserve and protect it for future use.

Queen Street would remain open during the work, but adjacent Clayhanger Street would be shut on Tuesday between 08:00 and 16:30 GMT, it added.

In 2024, the city council secured £318,966 from Historic England for repair works to ensure the Wedgwood Institute was weather-tight and safe to access.

There was also a controlled demolition on part of the site as part of efforts to make the building structurally safe.

The institute on Queen Street was built in the 1860s in memory of potter and philanthropist Josiah Wedgwood, and was intended as a place to run courses on science, business and the arts for Burslem's working men, but it has been empty for several years.

Meanwhile, funding of £1m which was awarded by Historic England for essential repairs to the Grade II listed Burslem Indoor Market was withdrawn over concerns about the large upfront costs of materials and potential delays to the work starting.

The authority has proposed to spend £3.36m on the market works, along with £2.6m for repairs to the Wedgwood Institute, with a decision on the funding set to be made at a meeting of the council's cabinet on Tuesday.

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