Grand Designs presenter visits historic baths

50 minutes ago

Rachael LewisWest Midlands

News image — Presenter Kevin McCloud said the project had "an amazing atmosphere"

Moseley Road Baths A photo of a presenter in a high-viz jacket standing and smiling into a camera with a tv crew in high-viz yellow jackets. — Presenter Kevin McCloud said the project had "an amazing atmosphere"

Grand Designs presenter, Kevin McCloud, has visited a historic Birmingham swimming pool dating back to 1907, while it undergoes extensive repairs and redevelopment.

Restoration work on the Grade II*-listed Moseley Road Baths in Balsall Heath has been underway since 2023.

The star of the Channel 4 show said: "This is special, because it's got that sort of fabulous atmosphere of history and you think, I can't wait to put my Edwardian Bathing suit on and dive in."

Phase one of the £32.7m restoration near to completion, including adaptations such as a new cafe, gym space and remodelling of the library

Moseley Road Baths A photo of the roof of the swimming baths from inside. Ornate green cast iron arches rise over the top of the baths with a white covering above. Inside, white and coloured tiles decorate the room. — The baths photographed during the restoration project

"The whole project has an amazing atmosphere because every person on it, and there are hundreds, loves it, loves the building." McCloud added.

He visited the site while in the city for Grand Designs Live at the NEC, which starts in October.

The baths are an iconic venue, containing original fixtures and fittings including 46 private washing rooms, original oak ticket offices and kiosks, and a three-sided spectator gallery in the Gala Pool, according to the National Trust.

McCloud said: "To swim there, and to go to the gym, to go to the library. It's going to be an enormously important cultural event, not just for the people of Balsall Heath, but it's attracted attention from all over the planet, that building."

The baths are currently looked after by Moseley Road Baths CIO, a charitable organisation formed in 2018.

Phase one of works, which began in September 2025, is almost complete, which the charity said was fully funded by the government's levelling up fund, Birmingham City Council, Historic England and the World Monuments Fund.

PA Media A Victorian red-brick building with ornate windows and towers, including a clock on the right-hand side. It faces on to a main city street with a modern bus shelter in front of it. — The baths are a prominent Moseley landmark

According to the group's website, phase two will "effectively remove Moseley Road Bath's at-risk status".

The work includes a full restoration of the Gala Pool, including a restored mezzanine gallery and a new accessible ground-floor public viewing area, as well as the conversion of the site's second pool into a flexible event space.

The Women's Slipper Baths will be turned into a community health and wellbeing hub, while the Men's Second Class Slipper Baths will become a community gym.

There will also be development of the boiler room to become a flexible studio space.