Wolverhampton's Royal Hospital, now converted into homes - we look inside - video Dailymotion

Express & Star

We join a special event looking inside the former Royal Hospital, now housing.

Transcript

00:00Here at the old Royal Wolverhampton Hospital, and we're with Gary Fulford. Hello, sir.

00:04Hi there.

00:05So you're boss at Walsall Housing Group.

00:08I am indeed. I have the great pleasure of doing that.

00:10What's their role been in the conversion of this building then, Gary?

00:13We're effectively the owners of the building, so we've synthetically carried out refurbishment of the building

00:18to create 38 new apartments for people over the age of 55.

00:23Around the building, we've also built another over 140 apartments, sorry, houses and flats for people as well.

00:30Cool. And it's being lived in. I didn't realise that myself, but it's all fully functional now, yeah?

00:35It is. The first residents moved in a few months ago.

00:38I'm pleased to say that the scheme is fully occupied and the residents are really enjoying their time living here.

00:43So where are you? Did you grow up in the black country?

00:46I did indeed.

00:46So you all appreciate an iconic building, isn't it?

00:50We didn't want to lose it.

00:52Is it nice to have played a part in bringing it back to a new life, a new generation?

00:57It's absolutely fantastic to bring this building back into use, yeah.

01:00I grew up locally, and therefore it has become really, really important to people like me

01:04who have lived and worked in the area for a long time.

01:08And one of the residents, we were just having a little tune, one of the residents used to work here,

01:11so it must be a bit of a bizarre, you know, when she walks through the door,

01:15the memories must come flooding back.

01:16Absolutely. This morning we held an event for people who used to work here in the past

01:22when it was a functioning hospital.

01:23So we had people who'd worked here about 40, 50 years ago

01:26telling us about the tales of the time when they worked here.

01:30But it's great to see the building being repurposed for a new use.

01:34And any unexpected problems or any interesting finds along the way,

01:38or was it as you expected from the project?

01:41Any refurbishment project of this nature and this scale, you always find unexpected things.

01:47But we managed to sort all those problems out.

01:49I think one of the really interesting things is that we found a time capsule

01:52that had been buried when the hospital was first refurbished.

01:56Yeah, so what was in there then? Did you pop it open and have it?

01:59It's with the local society, so we're currently waiting to hear back on that.

02:02Yeah, yeah.

02:03We'll publish that as soon as we know.

02:05Great stuff. Well, thank you, Gary.

02:06Dave, representing Aldridge Transport Museum.

02:09If you don't know about it, guys, fantastic collection of vehicles they have there.

02:12And Dave, what have we got here with us then?

02:14This is a Guy Wolfe 1938 ambulance.

02:19Didn't start life as an ambulance, did it?

02:21No, it started off life as a chassis for a dust cart.

02:25The contract fell through.

02:27And Guy Motorworks then built it into an ambulance as we see it here.

02:31No way.

02:31Operated right the way up until 1968, ferrying their invalids to the hospital, both here and at New Cross.

02:41So it would have seen service here.

02:42It certainly did see service here.

02:44And it's coming up to 90 years old.

02:47Correct, that's right.

02:48Made in Wolverhampton.

02:49Whereabouts in Wolfe then?

02:50Any of the old Guy Motors factory buildings left?

02:53There are none of the buildings left.

02:56Yeah.

02:56There might be just one or two walls left of the old factory.

03:01Yeah.

03:01But it's now been converted into an industrial estate.

03:04Well, I'm going to test you now.

03:06Is there a simple explanation as to why Guy Motors disappeared off the face of the earth sort of thing?

03:13What happened to them?

03:14Yes, they were taken over by British Leyland.

03:16Oh, OK.

03:17They were the only truck manufacturer that British Leyland had that were actually making a profit.

03:21Yeah.

03:21But, unfortunately, the powers that we decided were a profit now.

03:25What a shame.

03:26What a shame.

03:27Well, thank you for bringing it along today, chap.

03:29Let's hope it's not needed today for service.

03:32Cheers, Woody.

03:33Thanks very much.

03:35Pat McFadden, MP, you've just had the honour of cutting the ribbon on this fantastic development.

03:40It's looking nice, isn't it?

03:42It's absolutely fantastic.

03:44A couple of weeks ago marked the 20th anniversary since me becoming the MP for this area.

03:49And for most of that time, this was a derelict site.

03:53There was nothing happening here.

03:54Now we've got new houses, new life, new people like ours.

03:59That's right.

04:00So it's just wonderful to see.

04:02And it's made such a fantastic difference to this part of the city.

04:05And, Alison, you live here, but once upon a time you worked here many years ago.

04:10I did work here in A&E.

04:11Long, long time ago, back in the 80s.

04:13Only for a short time.

04:15But it's fantastic coming back to here and to live.

04:18It's a fantastic place.

04:19It must be bizarre, though.

04:20We're walking through the door.

04:21You know, if we could go back in a time machine and say, you'll be living here one day.

04:24Because the A&E is gone now, as I remember it.

04:28That's gone.

04:29And all new houses are absolutely fantastic houses, they are.

04:33I was going to say, what's it like to live in there?

04:35No complaints?

04:36Oh, I've got no complaints whatsoever.

04:38Perfect.

04:39Turn my life around.

04:40I'm a different person now.

04:41Cool.

04:42Well done.

04:42Well said.

04:43Well said.

04:43Is this your apartment?

04:53Yes.

04:53Hello, madam.

04:54I'm just filming for the Express and Star.

04:56Is that okay?

04:57Oh, God, yeah.

04:57Cool.

04:58Well done.

04:58Great answer.

04:59So what's your name?

05:00Shannon Ward.

05:01So how long have you been in here then, Sharon?

05:03I started, I came here two weeks before Christmas, December.

05:07And have you settled in then?

05:09Yes, definitely.

05:10So what do you make of it?

05:12Lovely.

05:13Yeah.

05:13Really nice.

05:14The people are nice.

05:15We get on great together and whatever.

05:17Oh, that's good.

05:18So there's a nice community of people.

05:19Well chosen.

05:20Community, yeah.

05:21And have you had a chance to use the cinema room?

05:24Have you watched anything in there?

05:25Well, saying that, I did try last week.

05:29Yeah.

05:29You've got to put your, you know, your passwords in and everything.

05:32Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah.

05:33Yeah, it's really nice though.

05:34Oh, that's cool.

05:34Yeah, it's a lovely little room, isn't it?

05:36I've had the auto racing going on when it was the Grand National.

05:38Oh, okay, yeah, yeah.

05:39So there's a nice little community by the signs of it then, have you?

05:42Yeah, we all...

05:44As Gary's mentioned, Nightingale House uses energy efficient technologies.

05:49And we make the building comfortable and eco-friendly.

05:52Gary's mentioned the three rather large air source heat pumps at the back.

05:57You'll see those more clearly when you actually get into the building and look down.

06:03But this former hospital site is not just a housing development.

06:07It's a multi-tenure, integrated community, part of the larger Royal Porter Regeneration Project.

Wolverhampton's Royal Hospital, now converted into homes - we look inside

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