Wordsley Museum of Glass nearing completion
It was once home to one of the best known glass works in the Black Country.
Now work on a modern home in its place promoting the history of the glass-making industry is nearing completion.
The multi-million pound Museum of Glass is being built on the site of the former Stuart Crystal glass works in Wordsley.
Work is gathering pace with the structure of the building now in place at the site opposite the Red House Glass Cone attraction. Cladding has been fitted to the outside of the building along with a glass front entrance.
Work will be completed immanently on the outside structure of the museum ready for it to be fitted out. A grant of £2.1 million was given to the project from the European Regional Development Fund.
Money from the Heritage Lottery Fund – HLF – totalling around £900,000 will be spent towards fitting out the inside of the museum.
The British Glass Foundation, which will manage the attraction, is currently working on putting a management structure in place to run the attraction. Once this is in place the group should be able to secure the full cash sum from the HLF to allow the fitting out to take place. This process will take up to 18 months with the museum expected to be up and running by Spring 2017.
In the meantime trustees of the foundation have been in talks about hosting pop-up exhibitions at the museum.
These would allow people a glimpse of the building in the months before it is finished as well as allowing artists the chance to showcase their work.
The foundation is also running a competition to name the new museum. Foundation trustee Graham Fisher said:
"It will be the people's museum and we want their involvement as much as possible."
Eighteen canalside apartments are also being built.
