Petition to save university's School of Art

A former student of the University of Wolverhampton has launched a petition to save the university's School of Art.

The university has announced plans to demolish the Brutalist building as part of its estates masterplan, saying the estate is "too large".

However, the former art student campaigning to save the site - who wished to be identified by the name under which he creates, Bag Lord - says it is a landmark to be preserved.

"This enriches the region, it enriches the area," he told the BBC. "It pumps out students that have an ambition to make our lives more colourful, and [is] nice to look at, and I don't know why we have to put a money sign on that."

Bag Lord said people from Wolverhampton "know what we are, we know we're not Venice, but we're also a place that people love living [in], and we like the things we've got, so let's just embrace them and use them and utilise them."

The university says it is planning to relocate the School of Art into a different building, as well as close its Telford campus next August, moving the teaching into its campuses in Wolverhampton and Walsall.

In 2022, a slew of courses at the school closed due to a financial deficit within the university, but teaching continues within the building.

The university said: "Our estate is too large. It is over-provisioned by 30%, equating to an annual operating cost of £6m.

"Releasing this resource will enable the university to invest in key strategic areas that will improve the student experience, protect jobs, enhance staff welfare and deliver growth."

Meanwhile, Historic England has told the BBC it is in the process of assessing the School of Art for listed status, and will submit its advice to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which will make the final decision.

Despite what the university says, former and current students agree with Bag Lord that the site should remain.

Gary Marshall graduated from the university in 1992 and now lives in Yorkshire, but visited Wolverhampton for old times' sake and to see where he studied.

He told the BBC: "I don't think you should knock things down for the sake of it.

"You tend to find churches stay for a long time, in some ways this is our church for people who do this sort of stuff, hence why we come back every so often.

"[It's] almost a pilgrimage, in a sense. This is where I got my degree. I think it's important."

Hannah Bishton, a fine arts student at the university, said she worked with glass and ceramics, and that finding the same facilities at another university would be a struggle.

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