BOSSES at Stourbridge’s Ruskin Glass Centre were this week raising their glasses as a £1.4m revamp nears completion - just in time for this year’s International Festival of Glass.

The centre, off Wollaston Road, Amblecote, created on the site of a former Victorian glass factory, has been given a stylish revamp thanks to a grant from Advantage West Midlands.

The plan, part of a drive to bring the site and the town’s Glass Quarter into the 21st century, was almost shattered when fears over the future of Government quangos that had pledged cash started to surface.

But glass centre bosses managed to plough ahead with most of the redevelopment project, after AWM confirmed its £1.4m offering.

And the revamped centre is now on course to open this weekend - to coincide with the International Festival of Glass, which is held in Stourbridge every two years and attracts thousands of glass fans and makers from across the globe.

Leigh White, new manager at the centre, said: “Hopefully it will become a state-of-the-art centre for glass artists and glassmakers in the region and nationally.”

Upgraded with a new roof, the former crystal factory now has an ultra-modern new look and comprises 11 units for glass-related and art businesses plus four incubator premises for new entrepreneurs.

A new coffee shop is also due to open soon.

Wider redevelopment plans for the site - which is owned by the Ruskin Mill Educational Trust - also include refurbishing the neighbouring Glasshouse Arts Centre.

Project directors have already scooped £250,000 from the Arts Council, but are waiting to find to find out if their bid for an extra £1.8m has been successful.

See pages 8 and 9 for more on the International Festival of Glass, which runs from tomorrow (Friday August 27 to Bank Holiday Monday August 30).