Ben Anslow, MD of BAX Construction discusses his plans for the former Express & Star building in Wolverhampton.
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00:00Hello, I'm James McMirovich and I'm sat here in the middle of the Express and Star building
00:04on Queen Street, Wolverhampton. For nearly 140 years, this building was the hub of newspaper
00:10action across Wolverhampton, the Black Country, Staffordshire and Wyre Forest. It sits empty
00:15now having been emptied at the end of 2023 as we moved to Mander House. Since then, it
00:22has laid empty, memories of newspaper stories being broken, big moments, big events, interviews
00:28being made, celebrities and important people coming here, it all seems to be but a memory
00:32but this place now has a brighter future.
00:34Okay, so we've just had planning approval for 38 apartments split across the top two
00:41levels of the building on Queen Street. They're going to be comprising of studio, one and
00:48two bed apartments. There's breakout spaces in the middles, a gym potentially, gowns room
00:54etc etc.
00:56So you've got a whole sort of forward plan for this place and it's not just this particular
01:01area that we're in, you now own the whole building.
01:03Yes, that's correct. Yeah, we have complete ownership of the building. We have a big retail
01:08opportunity on the front of Queen Street, completely opposite Nando's, so we're looking
01:14to let that out. And on the back in the old press hall, which was operational, you guys
01:20have probably done this better than me, until 1998 I believe, before it moved to Castle
01:24Street. That's going to be let out to a leisure company. I can't say too much more on that
01:32at the moment, but that is in progress and the deal's nearly done.
01:38And all the paperwork's been signed and everything, so I suppose the next stage is just beginning
01:43the construction, beginning the work that goes into this?
01:45Absolutely, we're working really close with the local authority, with Wolverhampton City
01:49Council, that have come and visited the property and had a good walk around with us. They're
01:53really excited about the regeneration of this building and we're going to be trying
01:58to obviously bring things back into the Wolverhampton community. I mean, that's our main goal, to
02:03create an ecosystem, obviously with space on that side, the beauty salon over there,
02:10the leisure space. We're trying to really create Castle Street and Queen Street as the
02:14place to go.
02:15And it's all about respecting the heritage of the business that used to be here as well?
02:19Absolutely, and we've kept the heritage within the name, so we'll be maintaining the Express
02:26and Star signs on the front, on the clock and on the bridge. We don't want to get rid
02:29of those. I think that's pivotal to Wolverhampton. It's been here for hundreds of years and we've
02:35renamed the building the Newspaper Building.
02:37And how exciting is it to know that this place, which is, it's laid empty for the last year,
02:43but it's now about to have this bright new future?
02:45I mean, there's so many buildings that are around the country and especially in Wolverhampton
02:48that have laid dormant, really, and have so much potential. So as soon as we were given
02:52the opportunity to take this over, me and my other business partners, we jumped at it.
02:57Especially with the city centre living in Wolverhampton at the moment, it's not great.
03:01And I think the more people living in the centre of Wolverhampton, the better for the
03:05city. Obviously, more chances for more retail, more eateries, more bars.
03:11And can you go into specifics about the cost and everything, or is that sort of hush-hush
03:14at the moment?
03:15It's live. Do you know, we've got a fair deal on how much we pay for the building. I can't
03:21thank the landlords enough for that. But specifics, you're looking at £2 million investment plus.
03:28But for the time being, the work begins. If people want to know more about it, they can
03:31come into space, have a coffee and find out more?
03:33Yeah, come into space, have a coffee. The website's live, which is thenewspaperbuilding.co.uk.
03:39That's live. And more information will be coming out soon. So yeah, just pop into space,
03:44come and ask for me and we'll come and have a chat.