History of the Exchange
The Grade II listed ‘Exchange’ in Blackburn was initially opened as the Cotton Exchange in 1865. Blackburn was then at the centre of Lancashire’s textile industry, with mills all across the town.
Even from the start, the building was used for a variety of purposes and was renowned for the reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens in 1869.
As the textile trade went into decline at the end of the 19th century, The Exchange needed to discover a new purpose. In 1924 the building was extended and underwent major alterations to convert it into a cinema. In the 70’s there were further works to convert it into a multiplex cinema.
Since 2005 the building has been closed and unfortunately fallen into a poor state of repair. However, it has been recently purchased by the Christian charity, Re:Source, with an aim to transform this redundant building into a vibrant, diverse destination for the town.
Re:Source has a mission to bring the Exchange back into sustainable use as a vibrant and diverse venue and to deliver activities which inspire hope, creativity and excellence for people and communities.
Working with the local community and business partners, the building will once again come alive and flourish.
BIM Model & Survey of 'The Exchange'
Site Surveying Services were commissioned by Buttress to survey this historic building and provide a BIM model displaying the high level of architectural detail contained in the building structure. We spent 6 days surveying the building with the latest 3D scanners; Trimble X7 and Leica RTC360. The survey was tied in using Total Station Control to ensure the upmost level of accuracy. As the roof was inaccessible and contained a large amount of detail, we flew the DJI Phantom 4 RTK to survey the roof and features such as the historic Gargoyles.
Further Details About The Project
A comprehensive website about the mission, vision, values and further details about the project is available here.
It is always a huge pleasure to survey these historic local buildings, and witness how they can be rejuvenated. Ultimately, we want to see positive development in the North which in turn benefits the local communities.
