A huge stack of glazed bricks was sitting outside the back entrance of the Moseley Road Baths as I headed along the back route behind the Masjid to the security point.
The old Stourbridge bricks had been removed, taken away for cleaning and repairs, to bring back to Balsall Heath as part of the huge restoration of the old Edwardian leisure centre.
Unlike so much of ‘new Birmingham‘, the construction work Galliford Try is doing in Balsall Heath is less about creating something new, and more about bringing back to life a treasured space that we very nearly lost forever.
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For 20 years, campaigners had been calling for the reopening of Moseley Road Baths, a tireless effort to not just to secure the funding for renovation, but to find ways to keep water in the pool so kids in the area wouldn’t miss out on the vital service that has defined it since it opened in 1907.
And after all those years of talking and fighting and begging for acknowledgment, the Friends of Moseley Road Baths can now start to see all the upgrades they’d dreamt of coming to fruition.
Restoration is well under way in Moseley Road Baths(Image: Kirsty Bosley)
We were invited to explore the baths for Birmingham Heritage Week, going back to where I’d once stripped off for a slipper bath to see how things had changed.
And the changes are so remarkable, every Brummie who ever dipped a pinkie toe in the water will be surely buzzing to see them.
For the first time in the history of the building, work is underway to make the baths fully accessible.
‘Details preserved perfectly’
In every nook and cranny, little details have been preserved perfectly, the stained glass restored and the beautiful steel beams that span the ceiling stripped back and painted a ‘heritage green’ sagey colour that looks like I imagine it did on the day they were first given a lick.
But some doors have been widened, and infrastructure is going in to allow for hoists to lift those who need the support into the water.
Even that is going to be higher. In the gala pool, the water will come right up to the brim, meaning an easier entry.
In the light of the the cathedral-like windows, the old archways will have viewing areas, and accessible viewing areas, and where water will be is currently a makeshift workshop, where the Galliford Try team are storing the materials that will bring it all back to life.
The library is a work in progress in Balsall Heath(Image: Kirsty Bosley)
It already looks beautiful, but as Lucy Reid, chair of the trustees of Moseley Road Baths CIO explains, every single element in the building has to be more than just nice to look at – it has to be functional and of worth to the people who use it.
It means, for example, taking out the cubicles in one of the sets of the slipper baths to accommodate a new gym. Back in the early 1900s, when Birmingham houses didn’t have baths of their own, people would flock to Moseley Road for a weekly soak.
These days, there’s less of a need more it, though there will still be baths as part of a wellness offering for spa retreat vibes.
“The architects on this project live just up the road. There’s deep respect for the place, and an understanding of its history, but we have to make sure it’s useful and that it earns its keep,” Lucy insisted.
Swimming lessons to cinema events
When it’s open, there’ll be swimming lessons for local schools, cinema events, community activities and loads more to go alongside the gym and wellness space.
As we explored further, we saw how the wall had been knocked through to allow visitors to walk from the swimming baths into the library, a next door neighbour that predates the pools by 12 years.
While its old parquet flooring looks worse for wear, the wooden blocks torn up in places as restoration takes place, you can already see the vision for it.
Around the edge of the room, beautifully sculptured decor hearkens back to a time when things were more than just functional in Birmingham.
The Birmingham Coat of Arms on the front of Moseley Road Baths(Image: Kirsty Bosley)
Even on the outside of the baths, the old drainage system is decorated with little gargoyles and roses, fine details that tell of when we put pride into every little detail.
When we could afford it.
And while these days we’re more likely to see functional, blocky towers rising up over Birmingham, in Balsall Heath, boards are going up over heritage wood simply to protect it from knocks while craftspeople work on intricately leading glass windows that will spill pretty light down on the families who wait to pay at the old kiosk for their swimming session.
After we wandered out behind the old baths, having spent time marvelling at its old water tank, Kevin McCloud – the host of Grand Designs who had joined the tour too – remarked of what a ‘wonderland’ we had in Balsall Heath.
As someone that has seen some of the most spectacular buildings in the country, he spoke about the Moseley Road Baths with all of the reverence that it deserves. As a World Monument, as precious as the Taj Mahal or the terraces of Machu Picchu.
Moseley Road Baths are not just as a relic of Birmingham’s past, but they’re a testament to the power of belief of the people that live in it today.
And it is a beacon of the hope that Birmingham’s neighbourhoods can – with work and collaboration – relight the sparks of community that the decades have dampened.
And it’s a really wicked swimming baths!
