Heritage of Springfield

• At its peak, the Springfield Brewery was producing 1,500 barrels of beer a week and employing 900 people.

• The site was originally purchased in 1873 by William Butler to house his growing brewing business, with the Springfield Brewery opening in 1874 under the William Butler and Company name.

• The family name continued William’s sons – first Edwin, then Samuel took the reins.

• The clock tower was built in 1922.

• The Butler family connection ended when Samuel Butler left the board of directors in 1950.

• In 1960 the company was taken over by Mitchells and Butlers, with a gradual decline in production at the site, until brewing ceased entirely at the site in 1990, with it closing entirely in 1991.

• A ferocious blaze ravaged the site in 2004, destroying much of the historic site.

• Foundations were laid, but plans to build 300 homes on the site were abandoned amid economic troubles in the late 2000s.

• Bough Brewery – a micro-brewery, began producing Springfield Ale on the site in 2011.

• The University of Wolverhampton purchased the site in 2014 – the start of ambitious plans to create a construction and built environment super-campus.

• November 2016 – the West Midlands Construction University Technical College opens its doors to pupils on the site for the first time.
November 2014 - WMCUTC opens on site.