Locally-made tiles allow a jewel of the Jewellery Quarter to shine again [AN AWARD-WINNING restoration project on the Grade Two*-listed Argent Centre in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter has included matching tiles from nearby Brierley Hill-based Dreadnought Tiles. Originally known as the Albert Works, the Argent Centre was designed by J G Bland and built in 1863 as a pen manufacturing centre consisting of rows of workshops overlooking an internal square courtyard. It is believed that the original building had two impressive corner turrets looking out over Legge Lane, which were truncated sometime after 1945. The recent restoration project, led by Oliver Architecture and grant aided by Jewellery Quarter Townscape Heritage, has brought prominence and stature to the building at the entrance to the Jewellery Quarter, faithfully restoring the roof and masonry and reinstating the turrets to their original design, according to old Victorian engravings. Philip Waghorn of Oliver Architecture explained: “It is not known when the corner pyramidal turrets were removed, or if they were ever built. We have only found sketches and engravings with no photographic record.” On close examination the engravings from 1863 showed bands of ornamental club tiles with plain clay tiles and elaborate decorative finials, and Oliver
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Architecture sought to rebuild them to match the original design as closely as possible. Dreadnought clay tiles are made locally and with their traditional single camber shape and natural clay colour were found to provide the most authentic match. Dreadnought were also able to match the shape of the ornamental club tile. Their sanded red/ blue blend tiles were selected – a natural mixture of red and blue hues – as they best represented the subtle colour variation that tiles in the 19th century would have had. The turrets presented many challenges for contractors Midland Conservation, who found that the bases were not square and that each roof slope would therefore have a different pitch and width – making it very difficult to set out the tiles and to ensure their proper alignment. It also meant that the proposed arris hips would not work and a new lead gutter detail was created instead. Each turret was then finished with a new stainless steel finial at the apex, specially made to match the design in the 1863 image in the engraving. Andrew Cornwell of Midland Conservation explained: “Thankfully, with the expertise of Oliver Architecture Ltd, Dreadnought Tiles and our site team we have managed to create two turrets that properly reflect the 1863 image and the original splendour of the Argent Centre.
