Moseley School of Art

After creating a space for people to gather and get support, the Moseley Muslim Community Association owns a fully restored facility in what was a building at risk.

Photo by Ron Carter, MMCA trustee

This is a story about how a new community, having migrated to the UK from east Africa and south-east Asia in the 1970s, found their feet and created a space for people to gather and get support. It finally resulted in them owning a fully restored heritage community facility.

Birmingham has one of the most ethnically diverse communities in Europe. Balsall Heath is also one of the most deprived areas in the country. Despite the influx of many migrants into the city, nothing had been prepared to give a home to a strong nucleus of Muslims forming communities in the district.

In 1978, four dedicated individuals established the Birmingham-based Muslim Association, which operated from several temporary spaces, including the Moseley School of Art. Javed Arain and Illyas Shaikh are still trustees of the organisation. By the 1980s there was a need for a larger meeting place, a venue that could encompass social and cultural activities and be attractive to younger people. In 1984 the Moseley Muslim Community Association (MMCA) raised the funds to buy the Grade II* listed former art school from Birmingham City Council. The building had finally closed in 1981. Over the next three years it fell into disrepair, with the basement being flooded with a metre of water.

‘Lots of people were against the purchase as the building was in a derelict state,’ says trustee Illyas Shaikh. ‘Sections of the roof had already come down, significant sections of the woodwork had wet rot and later dry rot set in. We had an annexe at the back, where we were teaching our kids, and we didn’t have enough money to renovate, so we started fundraising.’

Relying solely on fundraising, charity and free labour, the MMCA started a slow and expensive repair programme. Fundraising became a nationwide activity, some individuals sacrificing their regular employment to work for the community based at the art school.

For over 30 years MMCA worked hard to establish the building as a community centre. At its peak, the association welcomed over 8,000 visitors annually, including the master of Qawwali (a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who performed at a classical concert. The range of activities included education, sports, concerts and summer fetes. Mothers taught cookery and home-based handicrafts, and youngsters were encouraged in sport and language skills. Foreign ministers held meetings in the building. In the 1990s it served as a refugee integration centre for Afghans, Iranians, Iraqis and Bosnians, providing a welcoming meeting place in the district for new migrant arrivals in Birmingham.

Over the 30 years, the MMCA conducted major emergency repairs but the building’s overall condition continued to deteriorate. The Victorian Society identified it as being one of the country’s 10 most endangered buildings. Despite the MMCA maintaining the site to the best of its ability, including replacing the roof, rewiring the building, and installing a new heating and security system, the exterior elevations continued to suffer from weather and pollution.

Local fundraising could not keep up with the expense of maintaining the fabric of this historic building. Birmingham City Council would not allow the owners to make any piecemeal repairs to the listed building. New allies were found. In 2002 the Moseley School of Art Association (MSAA) was formed by ex-pupils from the old school. The association bought a new emphasis and publicity to the building’s dilapidated condition.

Over the next 10 years the MMCA, with assistance from the Architectural Heritage Fund and English Heritage, commissioned conservation specialists to prepare a plan for restoration. In 2015 a Heritage Lottery development grant was obtained to help produce a strategy for restoration and re-use of the old school. Additional grants from Historic England helped with external repairs of the front facade. In 2018 a full National Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £1.7 million and £243,000 from Historic England enabled restoration, transforming the building and securing its future in the community. The Pilgrim Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Veolia Environmental Trust also contributed.

The fully restored art school is now the heart and soul of the Balsall Heath community and a major asset for the city. This important historic building provides the best possible facilities to enable local people of all backgrounds to meet, learn, exchange and grow together. By reconnecting the building to its heritage, new commercial uses as a centre for creativity are happening.

The aims and vision of the Restoration of Moseley School of Art Project include:

Reconnecting the building to its heritage as a centre for creativity and inclusivity.
Developing people’s understanding of the building’s history and significance through the use of appropriate interpretation, including how the MMCA’s use of the building has added a new chapter to its story.
Bringing together people from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds to enable them to learn about each other’s cultures.
Delivering a programme of learning and participation to encourage new and under-represented local audiences to engage with arts and heritage.
Improving and extending visitor facilities.
Creating new flexible learning and temporary gallery and exhibition spaces, adapted to showing art works and temporary exhibitions that are physically and culturally accessible to all members of the community.
Creating new opportunities for volunteering, encouraging people to develop new skills, be active and contribute to their community.

The building provides four offices and studios, which can accommodate 18 people; two large studio workspaces, which currently house artists and a pottery workshop; co-worker space, providing a shared office so that people can return to the same location every day, leaving what they need overnight; hot-desk facilities that can be booked daily, weekly or monthly; two large event rooms that can be subdivided for private celebrations, workshops and classes, conferences and meetings, exhibitions and public events.

Collectively, there is now a vibrant centre which attracts a wide variety of community-related activities, many of which give a nod to the art school’s creative past. The Restoration Project has preserved what is important about Moseley School of Art, retained its historic character, conserved its significant fabric and provided an opportunity to interpret its history. Built in 1899, it was designed by the local arts-and-crafts architect William Bidlake.

‘A much-loved building has been saved from further dereliction and possible closure due to the passion and dedication of the association’s members,’ says Javed Arain, chairman of trustees. ‘This enthusiasm and tenacity have resonated with the local community and will play a key role in lifting the expectations of the neighbourhood. The full restoration programme over the last seven years would not have been possible without the support and assistance initially provided by the Architectural Heritage Fund and Historic England. A big thank you to the National Heritage Lottery Fund for its guidance, support and funding. And the support and guidance provided by Locality as a resilient heritage mentor has helped us chart our way through stormy conditions.’

Several challenges for the trustees, funders and consultants during the project were overcome, with all parties recognising the common good. The challenges are not over, but the group has survived Covid, built up a strong user base, and has good relationships with surrounding organisations, including Moseley Road Baths, a Grade II* listed building with multi-million pound ambitions. Such initiatives also support the transformation of the high street, encouraging communities to take the lead and the creation of assets.

This article originally appeared as ‘New life for Moseley School of Art’ in the Institute of Historic Building Conservation’s (IHBC’s) Context 173, published in September 2022. It was written by Mick McGrath of Locality with Moseley Muslim Community Association, a resilient heritage mentor for the National Lottery Heritage Fund, he supported MMCA’s member of staff and trustees as a critical friend over three years.

--Institute of Historic Building Conservation