Former workers visit Springfield Brewery

The visit, which took place on Thursday afternoon, saw former managers, draymen, glass collectors and other workers shown around the site.

Professionals from the university along with current students and representatives from the builders tasked with transforming the site attended the visit.

WATCH: Footage from the visit

It was an emotional trip for many. Richard Morgan, aged 70 of Wednesfield, attended with his younger brother, Eddie Morgan, aged 68 who lives in Northicote.

The two brothers and their wives all worked at Springfield Brewery in different roles.

Richard began working at the brewery in June 1962, when he was just 15. He worked at the site for 41 years. He progressed through the ranks to be a drayman before working in wines and spirits. He said: "It is really quite emotional to be honest. To be back and see how it's changed after all these years and find out about the plans to develop it, it brings back a lot of memories."

Richard was one of the final workers to leave the site when it was closed as a distribution centre in 2003. It had stopped making beer in the 1990s.

"We locked up and handed the keys over" Richard said, "so it feels good to be back here again now."

Eddie Morgan, who worked at Springfield for 32 years said: "I started in 1965. I started out just collecting the empties, which I did for four years. Then I moved onto the drays delivering the beer. It was a job for life back then. If it had carried on, I would still be there now."

Terry Binnall aged 67 of Perton and his wife Jean Binall, aged 65 also have fond memories of the brewery. Terry worked at the site for 22 and a half years, starting in 1976. He began as a cask washer and ended up working in distribution.

Jean said: "It was a real family-orientated, community-spirited place to work. There was a really active social side as well. That's not something you get very often now. My father, Albert Stanley worked for the brewery for 49 years. It was a really important part of the town as it was then."

Now, masters students at the university are working to create a virtual reality model of the site showing the brewery through the ages. Once complete by the end of the summer, the model will enable former workers to step into the virtual version of the brewery as it was then, to help students and builders to continue to preserve the history and cultural significance of the site.

Dr David Heesom of the building information modelling team said: "What is so special about events like this as it provides more of an insight into what the buildings were really like and how important they were for the people that worked in them. By using what we know about the buildings and enabling former workers to come back, we are able to fill in the gaps and build up more of a picture of what the place was like. These memories are so valuable in helping to preserve the site and we would welcome anyone who knows anything about the former brewery to get in touch."

The new West Midlands Construction University College (MCUTC) is now based at the former brewery as part of multi-million pound plans to transform the site into the University's School of Architecture and the Built Environment.