Winner 1977
District Significant Achievement Award
Dudley Rotary Club is the only Club
in District 1210 to have been presented with four District
Significant Achievement Awards.
ROTARY HOUSE
is the name of a block of apartments for senior citizens built by
the Rotary Club of Dudley to commemorate its Golden Jubilee in 1972
and supported and managed by members of the Club for over 40 years.
In 1970 the Club's committees and members
were asked to submit proposals for a suitable project. It was the
Vocational Service Committee that finally came up with the idea of providing purpose-built flats for elderly people with a
resident Warden. The scheme would be non-profit making.
On 2nd November, 1970 President Basil Poole
wrote to the Town Clerk of Dudley informing him of our proposals,
and asking that the Council give consideration to the project. A
positive reponse was received from the Council in due course.
Further progress was made by the formation
of the Rotary Club of Dudley Housing Association Limited which was
incorporated on the 4th November, 1971. Every member of the Club
(with just one or two exceptions for legal reasons) became a
shareholder with one £1 share.
During that period land was in short supply.
A large number of sites were examined but either planning permission
could not be obtained or the sites were unsuitable. Ultimately,
however, we were offered a site by the local authority in Middlepark
Road, Russells Hall Estate, Dudley in February 1972.
The calculated commitment of the
Association was a capital sum re-payable over a period of 60 years
which would be equivalent to the rental income from the flats. A
Government grant (via the Housing Corporation) would be the
difference between this sum and the total cost of the project and
was paid to us as a capital sum.
The preparation of plans and specifications
for the flats involved some research to determine actual
requirements, but this was completed and Department of the
Environment approval and local planning permission obtained by the
second half of 1975.
Under the Chairmanship of Past President
Stanley Jones the appointed Committee of Management worked very
well, and with the efficient design team of Architects, Alan Young
and Partners, and Quantity Surveyors, Girling and Hewett, (whose
principals were also members of the club), tenders were received by
the second half of 1975.
A contract was placed to build twenty
one-person and four two-person flats together with a common room,
utility room, Warden's house and guest room for visitors. Building
work commenced in December 1975 and the flats were completed 16
months later in April 1977.
The District Significant Achievement Award
was presented at District Conference in October 1977.
At a later stage, Phase 2 of Rotary House
was built on adjacent land and completed in 1982. The whole development remained in the hands of the Rotary Club of Dudley Housing Association until January 2018 when it was transferred to CHADD - the Churches Housing Association of Dudley & District - who had given excellent assistance as managing agents over the previous few years.
