Support from Bournville residents has helped Rowheath Pavilion emerge as winners in a competition run by Birmingham based window specialists, Finesse.
The popular Bournville community centre is being transformed after winning the competition to have windows worth £10,000 supplied and fitted free of charge.
Following the Pavilion’s initial nomination for the award, enormous social media support from local people saw them emerge as winners by a landslide in a competition run by Finesse.
Finesse organise the competition every year; inviting customers and followers of their ‘Facebook’ page to nominate worthy causes from local communities around and about their headquarters, at Melchett Road, Kings Norton.
Three of those good causes then go forward to a vote, via their Facebook page, with members of the public invited to decide who they think should win the prize of free new windows, and the installation.
“Rowheath Pavilion were the overwhelming choice of our customers and local people, and I am so pleased for them,” said Ellen Franklin, Customer Services Director at Finesse. “We are delighted that we are going to be making a big difference for a popular community facility, and overwhelmed by the number of people who took part in the vote.
“We are transforming the upstairs meeting room by providing large windows and a French door, so that the room can used to its full potential – currently the windows are so high you actually can’t see out of them! The French door will provide access to the balcony and of course the view of the park and the lake, which it overlooks.”
Rowheath Pavilion won the public affection over rivals The Samaritans (Birmingham), and Woodcock Hill Primary School.
Rowheath Pavilion was built by the Cadbury family in 1924. After falling into a state of disrepair, it was rescued from closure in the 1980s, and has since gone from strength to strength – it now plays host to numerous community groups, weddings, funerals, functions, parties, charity events and much more.
Mark Isgrove, the manager of Rowheath Pavilion said: “The old changing rooms upstairs have been converted into offices and almulti-purpose conference style rooms, but despite renovating the room into a useable space for the community, there has always been one thing stopping Rowheath from creating a fantastic space for the community: the windows!
“As Ellen said, the windows are above head height, so nobody who uses the rooms is able to look outside and experience the delightful view over the park and lake. We’ve been desperate to rectify this, and make our facility even more appealing, and it is fantastic that, not only were we nominated for help by Finesse in the first place, but local people have given us such amazing support to win the prize.
“We can’t thank Finesse enough, and we’re all so excited about the windows and the French door being fitted, and it is going to make such an enormous difference. It’s fantastic.”
And fantastic they look too.
Great it gets new windows but oh dear no thought given to preserving the look and feel of the originals! Did Bournville Trust approve these windows that look nothing like the style that is characteristic of the Estate?
I am so pleased to hear of this win. Rowheath pavilion is a brilliant resource for the community. Well done!
Well done Finesse, such generosity by a local firm and a great contribution to our community. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments about the work we have done at Rowheath, we are glad you like them, it was an absolute pleasure. Just to add that we worked very closely with BVT and Rowheath to make sure that we replaced the windows sympathetically. We used white foil to replicate wood, the sight lines are exactly the same as the originals as you can see the tops of the windows are exactly the same as they were we have just extended the length so that a view is gained over the park. We also added astragal surface mounted bars to replicate the style of windows that Bournville is so well known for. To ensure that even the handles were in keeping we have used monkey tail handles on the windows and a swan neck handle on the French door which were used in 1920’s architecture. We are very proud to be working on a historical building and kept this in mind at all times when designing them.