proposed to purchase a plot of land at the corner of Kent Street and Gooch Street in Birmingham. On 24 June 1845, the committee purchased the land for £6,102, which was taken from the funds they had accumulated. Official establishment of the committee After a period of campaigning by many committees, the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act received royal assent on 26 August 1846. The Act empowered local authorities to incur expenditure in constructing public swimming baths out of its own funds. Following the Act of Parliament, the town council called a meeting on 7 October 1846. It was at this meeting that they decided to adopt the act, and at a meeting of the Public Baths Association in November 1846, they decided to give the land purchased by the committee to the council. On 2 October 1848, the council gave their sanction for the construction of the first public baths and wash house on Kent Street site purchased by the Public Baths Association. Baths owned by the committee The committee constructed many public baths and never acquired private baths. Also, Birmingham was undergoing a period of change in that it absorbed many urban districts which were not within the boundaries before. As a result of this, the committee often gained the ownership of bathing facilities owned by the district councils before. Kent Street Baths Kent Street Baths were the first baths opened by the committee. Construction began on 29 October 1849, with the laying of the first foundation stone. The baths were opened on 12 May 1851, however, the baths were not completed until 1852. The building was designed by D. R. Hill. The baths were close to the town centre and so received a good amount of water. However, this supply of water posed a problem to builders of the baths who found it difficult to prevent water from entering and flooding the construction site. The final cost of the baths was £23,000. The building contained first and second-class swimming baths for men, first and second-class baths for women, Turkish baths and laundry facilities. On 30 March 1914, a women's swimming baths and baths for women were opened in an adjoining building to the main building on Gooch Street. In 1930, the main buildings, with the exception of the women's bath on Gooch Street, were demolished and new facilities were built in a more modern style. The building