Following a £300,000 conversion of a Georgian office
building in Dudley town centre, residents have started moving into
four new homes.
Jephson Homes Housing Association has spent the last nine months
converting the ground floor of Priory Chambers in Dudley's Priory
Street Conservation Area into the homes for affordable rent.
Two one-bedroom flats and a two-bedroom flat have just been
finished and an existing one-bedroom bungalow behind Priory
Chambers has been extended and linked to the main building.
A sensitive restoration of the brick and stonework on the front
of the building has been completed by the specialist masonry and
stone repair firm Quadriga Concepts Ltd.
Several local unemployed young people were given trainee
placements by the main contractor Shaylor Special Projects during
the conversion project, as part of a partnership initiative with
Future Skills Dudley.
The building was previously occupied by a hair salon and an
accountancy business and Jephson has previously converted the two
upper storeys into five flats for affordable rent.
Development officer, at Jephson's Black Country office, Hannah
Woodall said: "We are really please with the transformation of the
office building - looking at it now you wouldn't think it was the
same place. An incredible job has been done on the restoration work
and we are delighted that the project has created much needed new
affordable housing in Dudley."