Housing takes shape on former Dudley hospital site
It was once home to a Black Country hospital but the site now looks unrecognisable as the first stage of a housing development nears completion.
Homes have sprung up on the former Guest Hospital base in Dudley where more than 150 properties will be built to transform the Tipton Road site, near the Black Country Living Museum.
The first phase of the development is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
A plush, modern-looking housing estate has already taken shape while elsewhere, the first bricks are being laid on other properties and diggers remain at work.
Developers Wates Living Space Homes is working alongside Dudley Council and the Homes and Communities Agency to overhaul the site.
The scheme has been named Butler’s Crescent in tribute to the renowned Black Country architect, Albert Thomas Butler, who was responsible for modifications to the previous hospital building.
A total of 39 of the 157 homes will be council properties and 21 have been built as part of the first phase of the development. The overall scheme is due to be finished in 2019.
Much of the hospital site will be demolished, though some buildings will remain and be refurbished.
The hospital closed more than a decade ago after most departments, including A&E, moved to Russells Hall Hospital. It was built by the Earl of Dudley in 1849 for injured miners, before chainmaker Joseph Guest turned it into a hospital.
Last year, the derelict and overgrown former hospital site caught the eye of film-makers and featured in the critically-acclaimed post-apocalyptic horror, The Girl with all the Gifts, which starred Glenn Close and Gemma Arterton.
