Visitors to the Red House Glass Cone can now take a sneak peek inside the iconic building as its £1.5million restoration nears completion.
The Dudley Council run site has been partially closed for the last 12 months while essential but sensitive work has been carried out to protect and conserve the building for future generations.
While the team is busy completing the finishing touches, it’s now safe for people to go into the cone and see the progress being made.
Visitors can see the scale of the work that has been carried out to repoint the entire structure, install new cast iron windows and provide access to the tunnels beneath the cone.
During the restoration, the cone’s visitor centre, shop and studios have remained open and were recently assessed by Visit England. For the third year running, the site has secured gold status from the national tourism agency.
Assessors gave the attraction an overall score of 91% consistent with scores from the previous two years.
The site’s cleanliness, retail offer and knowledge and friendliness of staff were all praised along with the council’s future plans for the site.
The assessor gave ideas for improvement, including sourcing a new catering provision.
Councillor Paul Bradley, deputy leader of the council, said:
"This is a great day for the Red House Glass Cone. Not only has the site maintained its gold standard once again from Visit England, but it is now able to open areas of the site as restoration work nears completion.
"I’d invite people to pop along and wonder at the scale and quality of the work so far, but also ask them to bear with us while the final finishing touches are made."
The Cone is free to enter. Opening times are Monday to Friday from 10am to 3pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
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