Approval for student flats earmarked for historic industrial site

The go-head has been granted to transform part of a historic industrial site first built in 1857 into accommodation for almost 400 students attending a proposed music institute in Dudley.The Richardson family, who own the land in Waterfront Way, Brierley Hill, has won permission from Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council for the development on the site 180-space car park.The outline plans include a building of up to seven storeys and a total of 373 bedrooms and studios.The site is part of the former Round Oak Iron Works built in 1857 which at its peak employed 700 men and provided 700 tons of finish iron a week. In 1977 the site was jointly owned by TI and the BSC and had changed production to steel manufacture. After 125 years of continuous operation, the works closed down in December 1982.By then, it comprised 100 acres and was made up of heavy industrial buildings, storage yards and rail tracks.It was acquired by the Richardson brothers Don and Roy in 1983 and Richardson Developments went on to develop the site and providing 350,000 sq ft of commercial space known as the Waterfront Development.The council’s planning committee voted through the application at a meeting on Tuesday 5 February.The applicant, in a document to the council, said that it has been approached by a steering group acting to study the viability of the provision of a music institute.