I know you must all be intrigued as to what’s happening construction-wise at the Baths (I know I am). I’ve been in touch with Jon Lucas, the Contract Manager for Mansell Balfour Beatty and he’s provided me with this update to share with you:

‘We are going through our procurement now (placing our orders with various subcontractors). One of the first things we need to do is to get the building itself safe to work within, so we’re organising edge protection to the pool and balconies so as to carry out the asbestos survey to the whole building. This will take a couple of weeks to complete and only then can we get the contamination removed and the building cleaned up so we can start working. We’ll also be doing surveys,organising things and design development during this time.’

Externally we’ll establish a temporary site set up next week and this will serve the activities described above. Also it’ll serve the initial tree surgery/root grinding to enable us to gain access into the bowling green area at the rear. We will then be able to commence the groundworks and establish our permanent site set up, and within 6-8 weeks we can start erecting hoardings, fencing, signage and start the external scaffolding.’

Hopefully this has wetted everyone’s appetite for what’s to come! All residents in the immediate vicinity will receive a letter detailing that the team will be setting up their site at the rear of the Friends Meeting House from 24th February onwards.

If you want to have a last glimpse of the Baths pre-restoration you can watch a short video filmed by Birmingham Conservation Trust.