March 2011

New Art & Design Campus Topping Out Ceremony

Stourbridge College’s new Art & Design Campus in Brierley Hill drew a crowd of dignitaries at its official “Topping Out” Ceremony on Friday 25th March 2011 at 10.00 am.

The structure and windows are now in place in the new building which has dramatically altered the Brierley Hill skyline in its new location on Venture Way. The new Art & Design Campus is due to open in September 2011.

Lynette Cutting, Principal at Stourbridge College, said: “The ‘Topping Out’ ceremony represents an ancient tradition of an expression of goodwill between the building owner, the builder and the men who are working on the job. I shall have the honour of putting the last piece of concrete in place in the building structure before the roof goes on and work starts on the interior. It’s incredible, after all the challenges we have faced with finance, that we have reached this stage and record numbers of applications for our Art & Design courses are testimony to the fact that creative industries is alive and well in the Dudley Borough.”

John Mensforth, Construction Director at BAM Construction, said: “We are pleased to have reached this important milestone for the project, and its part in the continuing development of the new Stourbridge College Art & Design Campus. We have enjoyed working both with the college and the design team in achieving this. We now look forward to its successful completion later this year.”

The Ancient Tradition of ‘Topping Out’

There are many very early references to ‘topping out’ in history and although no clear documentary evidence remains, it is widely believed that the ceremony dates from Saxon times. Chaucer, who died in 1400, refers to such ceremonies and there is a record of topping out during the building of York Minster.

Other more gruesome stories relating to ‘topping out rites’ suggest that even human sacrifice was carried out in ancient times to bring good fortune from the Gods upon the edifice and its inhabitants. On occasion, even the architect was deemed, it seems, the best person to undertake the role of guardian spirit for his own creation!

Many of the early ceremonies took a spiritual form and from the earliest times a yew branch has been put up as soon as the highest point in the building is reached to keep away evil spirits. This more palatable tradition remains to this day.

 

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