December 2009:  Just a quick update to say thank you to everyone who wrote and expressed their passion for the Coffin works.  The last 3 months have involved a lot of discussion and we have been talking to AWM and others about taking ownership of the building.

There’s  nothing concrete yet although the position look a little brighter by the day.  We will give you more details when we have more to say.

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Advantage West Midlands has withdrawn funding from the Coffin Works Project. Unless AWM is able to come up with an effective alternative that means an end to the work.

We think you can help by writing to the right people. For more on who and how please go straight here. Below we give you the context and some useful information for those letters.

This has happened at the the very point when we thought everything was finally falling into place to turn Newman Brothers from an empty Grade II* building at risk into an innovative new museum supported by rented and really interesting offices.

The building belongs to AWM, so the organisation has withdrawn funding from its own project!  They bought the building in 2003, at our suggestion, specifically to find a productive new use for it whilst saving it and its historically important contents.  (For more background see this timeline here)

AWM’s decision is bad for the building and the contents. It leaves one unused, the other without a home.

It is also bad news for the Birmingham Conservation Trust.

We have so far only received a small proportion of our fees for the last 6 years of work on AWM’s behalf.

Most of our income is drawn at the end of a project. If our partner pulls out of the project it leaves us without the income. In effect the Trust has used up several years worth of financial reserves helping AWM progress this project.

The loss of income is a significant setback for the sustainability of our small charity.

Equally we can’t recover that lost time, time we could have used to see another historic building through to completion. Not only that but our volunteers have invested their energy on AWM’s behalf to help the project progress, the benefit from that work is also put in jeopardy.

What Next

We have written to AWM offering to work with them until the end of October. This is one last push to help them find a way forward.

If we don’t reach a concrete agreement with AWM by then we will have to move on to other work.  That will be a great shame for the building, but for us to sink any more time into the project would be counter productive for the long term future of the Birmingham Conservation Trust.

What the new plan might be is uncertain. We have already started talking to AWM and other partners to try and find a practical way forward.

What is pretty clear to us is that it will be very hard to raise funds for the building if the owner – Advantage West Midlands – shows no interest in funding further work.

What you can do

Write to Mick Laverty, the Chief Executive of AWM, ( e-mail )or Sir Roy McNulty – the chairman of AWM – their addresses are here.   Contact Ian Austin MP – he’s the minister for the West Midlands and the person who may have more influence with AWM than anyone else at the moment. His contact details are here. Perhaps get in touch with your MP – you can do that easily and online here.

Tell us that you’ve done so.  Send us an e-mail to coffin@birminghamconservationtrust.org
and let us know what you said and who you said it to. With your permission we’d like to publish your letters here on our website.

What is worth writing about?

You might want to ask them what they intend to do with the building and its contents. You might want to tell them how you feel about the building and its history.  You might also be interested in how the former owners and their workforce have been relying on AWM to honour the history of this remarkable place. You might be curious about how much AWM has invested so far in the building or how much AWM think it will cost to keep the building empty.

Above all you may want to encourage them to reconsider their decision. After all, when reviewing 906 projects, sometimes mistakes get made.

Here’s some information which might help you write that letter:

• The building belongs to Advantage West Midlands – what happens is their responsibility
• It is currently on English Heritage’s building at risk register
  
• The contents belong to Advantage West Midlands. They’re in store at the moment at the expense of Birmingham Conservation Trust. The contents are key to the historical value of this II* listed building.
• £250,000 is currently secured from English Heritage which will be lost to the region without input from AWM. Another £1 million of  match funding was in the process of being sought, at least half of which we were confident of receiving.  None of this money is likely to flow if the owner of the builder isn’t willing to invest in it’s future.
• AWM has already invested £400,000 to buy the building, £300,000 to decontaminate the building, plus continuing costs including consultants, insurance and agents fees.  We think the sunk cost is at least £750,000,  probably a good bit more.
• The building was granted planning permission for the development in October 2008.  At the time AWM very clearly stated their commitment:  “Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands is investing around £1.5 million towards the £3.9 million project to secure the future of Newman Brothers’ coffin fitting works.”

What else can you do?

You can donate. We have relied mostly on project income, but with this setback donations will help us through. Doing so online is very easy with our page on Justgiving. You can send donation to the Birmingham Conservation Trust at address linked to here.

You can even buy things through the website linked to here. Up to 8% of what you spend goes to the Birmingham Conservation Trust

Thank you.