In the early years of the Moor Pool Estate, the Builders Yard (located next to the Carless Eco Centre off Wentworth Gate) was the base for a team of skilled workers who undertook a schedule of routine maintenance and one-off repairs around the Estate.
It was the first asset to be acquired by Moor Pool Heritage Trust from Grainger plc in July 2014 but plans to redevelop it were put on hold due to the complexities of working with such a fragile building.
We are now excited to be working with four MSc Construction Project Management students – Shivam, Manish, Bipana and Muhammad – from University College Birmingham to develop plans for what we hope will be a flexible, multipurpose community space.
The Builders Yard is being used as a shared case study for the students’ dissertations, with each student exploring a different research topic. Their research will cover areas such as sustainability, construction management, procurement, risk, stakeholder engagement, whole-life considerations, digital construction and heritage conservation.
The students visited the Builders Yard for the first time on Friday 2nd October 2026. The visit gave them the opportunity to engage directly with a live heritage and construction project and to explore the challenges and opportunities surrounding the future redevelopment of the Builders Yard.
Dr Ali Abdi, Course Leader and Lecturer in Built Environment at University College Birmingham, says “What makes this particularly exciting is that the students’ work is not simply an academic exercise. Their research aims to develop practical, evidence-based recommendations to inform the future rebuilding and redevelopment of the Builders Yard into a more sustainable facility, while respecting its heritage and important role within the local community.
This is a fantastic example of how academic research can connect with real projects and community needs, giving students the opportunity to investigate genuine challenges and potentially contribute to a live development.”
We look forward to seeing how the students’ research develops and how their combined work can contribute positively to the future of this wonderful heritage building.
Moor Pool Hall
37 The Circle, Harborne,
Birmingham, B17 9DY
Registered Charity Number: 1148252
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