Zoo wins first round of HLF funding to upgrade four buildings designed by Lubetkin and Tecton

Dudley Zoological Gardens has won first round ottery funding for a £1.15 million scheme to upgrade four structures at Dudley Zoo designed by Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton in the 1930s.

The buildings are the only collection of interrelated Tecton designs left in the country and the Heritage Lottery Fund has given £123,000 for the project. The decision means the zoo has up to two years to submit more detailed plans and apply for a full grant from the fund of just over £970,000.

Consultations about the work started in 2008 and within a year all 12 of the zoo’s modernist structures had received World Monuments Fund status and been placed on a watch list.

The work will be carried out by Birmingham practice Bryant Priest Newman and the firm’s Larry Priest said: “We are very pleased to be working with Dudley Zoo. The buildings are of worldwide importance and we hope this is the first step in what will ultimately be the repair and conservation of all the structures at Dudley.”

The zoo opened in 1937 and the four Tecton structures set for refurbishment are the Bear Ravine, Front Entrance, Safari Shop and Kiosk One.

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