Cavendish House eyesore is going...going, almost gone!

The seven-storey Cavendish House, which looms over the busy Duncan Edwards Way bypass in Dudley is poised to be blown up in May or June.

The rundown 85,880 sq ft office block, once home to the Inland Revenue, is standing in the way of ambitious plans to revamp Dudley’s outdated bus station.

It now must be demolished before work can begin on £50 million plans to redevelop the site, which is also planned to link to the Midland Metro.

Dudley councillor David Stanley, cabinet member for transformation and performance, said work cannot start on the bus station until the building, which was abandoned in the 1990s, is flattened.

Plans have been drawn up to turn it into a transport interchange for bus and tram services.

A planning application to demolish Cavendish House has been expected from owners Avenbury ‘imminently’ since October, but the size of the project has caused set-backs.

Dudley Council leader Patrick Harley says the application alone is expected to cost more than £100,000 – before funding for the actual demolition is taken into account.

When it is gone a supermarket, restaurant, shops and new homes are envisaged to replace it in a multi-million pound development known as Porter’s Field, expected to bring 500 jobs to Dudley.

Mr Harley said: “It is quite an ambitious planning application. We need to get it right (first time) rather than having to go back to the drawing board.

“I would expect the application to be submitted towards the end of February. The developer, Jeremy Knight-Adams, has started taking on consultants.

“There will have to be a light demolition before we can blow up the building. I expect the full demolition to take place in May or June.

“Once that happens, then we can get on with the rest of Dudley and everything will fit into place.”

Councillor Harley said funding for the demolition will come from the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership.

The demolition will also allow work to progress on the Midland Metro. Trams will run along the old South Staffordshire Line between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill, passing through Dudley bus station.

The proposed scheme for the station has received £400,000 funding through the LEP.

The project will aim to modernise the facility. But one proposal, put forward by West Midlands Combined Authority, to reduce the station’s size and see drivers reverse out of bays was not favoured by councillor Stanley.

He said the plans would see 20 stands reduced to 11.

An upgrade of Dudley bus station has been in the pipeline for four years but a lack of funds has caused delays.

Cavendish House had been given a guide price of between £1.2 million and £1.5m – but sold in 2015 for £800,000.

The proposed Porter’s Field project covers an area stretching between Trindle Road and King Street and between Flood Street and Oakeywell Street.

It also aims to improve links between King Street and the rest of the town centre – including High Street and Market Place.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, former regeneration boss at Dudley Council, who is now in opposition with Labour, said the demolition has been a long time coming.

He said: “We have been working in partnership with the owners of the Cavendish site together with the Metro and Transport for West Midlands in order to make sure this part of the town is demolished as a matter of urgency.

“It has been an eyesore for a long, long time. The people of Dudley have had a lot of promises made but now it is time to move forward.

“Things are progressing and I just hope it takes place sooner rather than later and we can see the demolition of the site and the redevelopment, together with the bus station.”