The Trust is dedicated to protecting and restoring Highbury and ensuring its history and cultural significance is shared.
Chamberlain Highbury Trust
The Chamberlain Highbury Trust (CHT) was established in 2016 as an independent charitable trust (registered charity no: 1169845) to preserve and restore Highbury Hall and grounds and give them a sustainable future. CHT was founded in response to extensive public consultation that called for a new governance and operating model to restore Highbury and to take full advantage of the range of educational and social opportunities that this unique site offers Birmingham, the UK and the world.
The Trust is led by a Board of Trustees, working alongside a small team of freelance staff and volunteers.
A Heritage Estate with a Powerful Story
Highbury was created by Joseph Chamberlain, one of Birmingham’s most influential civic leaders. Designed in the late 1870s it was a family home filled with craftsmanship, and innovation that became a nationally important hub of political power and influence.
Over the decades, Highbury has served many purposes: a family home, a community gathering place, a military hospital during the First World War, and later a public asset. In 1919 the Chamberlain family gifted the estate “for the benefit of the people of Birmingham,” a principle that still guides our work today.
By preserving and sharing Highbury’s heritage, we invite current and future generations to reflect on the values that shaped modern Birmingham: innovation, social progress, public service, and the conviction that good leadership can change lives.
Our Mission & Ethos
Heritage for Everyone
Our aspiration is to restore Highbury and make it fully accessible – physically, intellectually and socially. Heritage should not feel exclusive. It should invite people in, spark curiosity and belong to the communities it serves.
Social Inclusion & Diversity
We are committed to ensuring that Highbury is shaped by, and truly reflects, the richness and diversity of Birmingham. The heritage sector has often struggled to represent the full range of voices, perspectives and backgrounds within the communities it serves – we want Highbury to help change that.
We are working to build a diverse board and volunteer community, develop inclusive programming, and create opportunities for people who may not usually feel connected to heritage spaces. The Trust’s aim is to make Highbury a place where everyone feels welcome, valued, and able to participate fully.
Inspiring Young People
Highbury offers a unique environment for thinking about leadership, its power, its impact and its complexity. We want young people from every background to be able to explore these ideas, draw inspiration from the Chamberlain story, and develop confidence in their own leadership potential.
Community at the Heart
The Trust was created in response to local concern for Highbury’s future. Our long-term success depends on listening, consulting and working collaboratively with the people who live around it. Highbury Hall and Park should become a lively, participative space, a place for inter-cultural conversations, family events, workshops, festivals, community celebrations, and quiet enjoyment of green space.
Protecting Highbury
The work to provide the urgent care and restoration Highbury needs and ensure it stands as an inspiration for generation to come is ongoing.
The Trust successfully completed the first phase of a historic landscape restoration programme to save the grounds around the house designed in 1879 by Edward Milner, and in 2025 was awarded a £2 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the next phase of work to protect and restore them to their original splendour. Details of CHT’s work to restore Highbury can be found here.
