Ben Anslow, MD of BAX Construction discusses his plans for the former Express & Star building in Wolverhampton.

Express & Star

Transcript

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.

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