Mansion may make perfect match as wedding venue
A HISTORIC Grade-II listed mansion could be brought back to life as a wedding venue.
Plans to transform Buile Hill Mansion, in Salford, will go before the public next month.
The Georgian property, which has been closed for more than 20 years, could become a new base for the city’s Registry Office.
If approved, it will move from the Civic Centre in Swinton into the first and second floors of the building and provide a ‘unique venue’ for weddings, civil partnerships and celebrations.
The proposals also feature a downstairs cafe, function room and community and heritage exhibition spaces. Community and flexible meeting spaces would also be incorporated into the building.
New external ramps and an internal lift would be fitted to ensure the building is fully accessible, while a new car park would be used by the mansion, Buile Hill Park banqueting suite and the park itself.
Constructed between 1825 and 1827, Buile Hill Mansion was built for Thomas Potter, the first elected Mayor of Manchester.
The building was purchased by the Salford Corporation in 1903 and later became a natural history museum in 1906. In 1975, the building became the Lancashire Mining museum until it closed in 2000.
Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett says the proposals are part of his ambitions to bring the mansion building ‘back into sustainable use’ after laying dormant since then.
Salford council and the Buile Hill Mansion Association have worked together on the plans, which will go forward for planning permission early in the year.
If approved, work is expected to start on the site in 2022.
City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “I made a commitment to bring Buile Hill Mansion back into sustainable use and I’m delighted that we can now reveal the plans to do just that.”
Jenni Anne-Smith from the Buile Hill Mansion Association, which was formed in 2018 to support reopening the mansion, said: “We are so excited that the plans are under way to restore the mansion, especially as they include all the elements the community asked for through previous consultations.”
Last month, work began on muchneeded roof repairs of the building.
The 12-week project will see the timber beams on the building removed and replaced.
Comments from the public are invited until December 24.
Public drop-in sessions at Buile Hill banqueting suite next to the mansion will take place on December 9 (2pm-7pm) and December 12 (10am-4pm).
A Claremont, Weaste and Seedley Community Committee meeting will be held on December 7 (6.30pm8pm) via Microsoft Teams. Email CWNMTeam@salford.gov.uk to request the meeting link.