Former Express & Star building begins new life
The former Express & Star building on Castle Street in Wolverhampton is beginning a new life after being purchased by BAX Construction and work beginning to convert parts of it into an all-purpose beauty salon and wellbeing centre called Fused.
BAX Construction director Ben Anslow and Fused owner Siobham Webley show Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic around.
BAX Construction director Ben Anslow and Fused owner Siobham Webley show Express & Star senior reporter James Vukmirovic around.
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00:00I'm here at the former site of the Express and Star building with Ben and Siobhan.
00:17They are the brains behind BAC's construction and fused and what's being built here is taking
00:23what was an old and frankly derelict building and turning it into a brand new thing.
00:28Tell me a bit about what you're doing here.
00:30Basically me and Siobhan got together and we thought how can we improve Wolverhampton
00:36and what Wolverhampton hasn't got and we came together for a safe space for women and men
00:42to come to the same establishment to have beauty and grooming treatments together and
00:48separately if they needed to and offering a convenient and easily accessible place to
00:57come and have your treatments done so we're going to be having hair salons, hair extensions,
01:03training academy, private baby ultrasound, nails, barbershop, male and female waxing
01:09etc. etc. and we just wanted to create that convenient safe space for people to pop down
01:14in Wolverhampton to have.
01:15It's a one stop shop for all your beauty.
01:17It's a one stop shop for beauty retail.
01:20And it's not just that, you've also got plans for a cafe and other things as well.
01:23Yeah so we're going to be doing, next to Fuse, we're going to be doing a Fuse cafe where
01:28we're going to be offering deli options, locally sourced produce, locally sourced coffee,
01:34100 house which is based in Ludlow as well as pint and sip evenings, book club and other
01:42innovative things that we can think about to put in the space.
01:44Okay well we're here now so let's go and have a look and tell me what you're planning.
01:49So we've walked through the doors, these are the green doors that you may have seen walking
01:52down Castle Street.
01:53We're into the big warehouse.
01:55What are the plans for the e-shop?
01:58So we will have a lovely luxurious reception area here with a little walkway through to
02:04our cafe.
02:05So customers are welcome to come in and not just receive treatments, they're welcome to
02:09come in and experience the cafe as well.
02:12Once we walk through the doors we'll have lounges such as sunbed lounges, tattoo studios,
02:18aesthetic studios, nail, laser, make-up studios and a hair salon and extension training academy
02:24at the back.
02:25So you've got a lot of plans at the moment obviously and you can see it's all at the
02:28empty site but if you use your imagination that site is going to be all rooms isn't it?
02:32Yeah.
02:33Yeah so there's going to be a mezzanine floor which will double the height and run down
02:38and return back at the back and the training can be at the top like Siobhan said, the hair
02:42salon towards the back then each individual unit will be down here and we're going to
02:46return the mezzanine floor over here where we're going to have a wellness suite, pilates,
02:51yoga mornings.
02:52We're also looking to enquire into maybe having an area for a local creche or a child-mortuary.
03:01There's a lot to play with basically.
03:02Yeah there's lots to go at you know what I mean so.
03:04And the cafe, we were talking about it, you've already been outsourcing different coffees
03:09and things like that.
03:10Yeah I've had five today to be fair so I'm feeling quite good about myself.
03:13It's not necessarily a bad thing but as well as that it's not just the coffees it's also
03:15the food that's coming in and for what you were telling me Siobhan the fresh produce
03:20that's coming as well.
03:21Yeah so it's not just a place that we want to invite our customers into to feel good
03:24and look good.
03:25We want you to do well from the inside as well so as Ben explained we want to open a
03:29wellness centre where we can do pilates, yoga, meditation mornings and also if you then go
03:35into the cafe and fancy a little bit of lunch you can pick your own fruit, have actual fresh
03:39juices because there's nobody where like that in Wolverhampton at the moment that I can
03:42think of that I can go and pick my own fruit and say can I have a banana, an apple, an
03:47orange and drink just pure goodness so it's something I'm really excited about, it's something
03:52that we both want to do in our own lives as well so we're happy to offer it to our customers.
03:56Yeah so there'll be a display cabinet with fresh produce locally sourced where customers
03:59will be able to pick their own fruit and hand it over to the staff and the staff will then
04:03create the juice that they want for them.
04:06And it's taking what was like I said an old and somewhat derelict building and giving
04:09it a whole new lease of life.
04:11Yeah absolutely I mean and we want to still maintain the vintage look of the building
04:17whilst also creating a fresh clean approach as well and so we'll be keeping all the old
04:22features, I'm really trying to keep the doors, might need a bit of restoration work but I
04:27want to keep them whilst also including some new doors as well.
04:31And I believe you've got some different realtories as you're moving on.
04:36Yeah we have, yeah so obviously being in construction we always hope for the best but yeah you plan
04:43for the worst.
04:45We are looking to have the cafe open within four weeks and hopefully have Fused open by
04:51the end of September, start of October.
04:53And ultimately what would you like to achieve from Fused?
04:56Well to be honest we'd like to create a togetherness in Wolverhampton, do you know what I mean?
05:01I mean I think it's lacking a bit of inspiration and local investment, I think coming together
05:08and bringing people together in a safe environment, especially females.
05:12For anyone unfortunate enough to have had cancer we'll be offering free semi-permanent
05:16make-up for those clients, we're going to have a breastfeeding booth, we're going to
05:20be offering free sanitary for women because that's really important, especially for born
05:22and definitely for me, I mean Baxter donates to the Women's Refuge, Newcastle Hospital
05:27yearly, so having that community feel back in Wolverhampton is definitely something.
05:31As I explained to you earlier that I was also a One Size Service user, so it's not just
05:36something that we just want to offer for you know, for it to look great as a company, we
05:40genuinely mean it to my heart, it's an authentic part of who we are as a business team.
05:45So it's something where we would want to come and experience, I mean you would want to come
05:49here.
05:50Yeah absolutely.
05:51I would want to come here and I would want to be here, so it's what we want to create
05:53for the customers.
05:54And the ultimate question, is there anything you can do with this?
05:57There actually is.
05:58Oh no!
05:59It's a bit fog on now, definitely pop in and we'll sort you out.
06:04They're letting me down gently, this is the beginning, there's lots more to come.