THE TOWN HALL BUILDING, HUDDERSFIELD

CONSERVATION WORKS

LOCATION

Huddersfield

SECTOR

Conservation

CLIENT

Kirklees Council

ARCHITECT

AHR

PROJECT VALUE

£1.8m

CONTRACT

Traditional

PERIOD

May 2023 – Jan 2024

CONTRACT PERIOD

8 Months

THE BRIEF

H.H. Smith were awarded the contract for repair and restoration works to the Grade II listed Town Hall Building owned by Kirklees Council, which is located in Huddersfield town centre, after a competitive tender process. It is the second heritage conservation scheme we have completed for the council in this busy city centre location. The project included roofing works, timber treatment, window repair/replacement, masonry repairs, pointing, replacement of rainwater goods, painting and internal decoration/plaster repairs.

KEY POINTS

A temporary roof had to be constructed in order to prevent further degradation of the historic building fabric whilst the works were being undertaken. Key rooms, such as the council chambers and wedding reception venue, were handed over early in a staged handover in order to minimize the impact on the building’s operations.

CHALLENGES

The Town Hall is used for council meetings, weddings and concerts , therefore one of the main challenges during the project was ensuring the building remained operational at all times. Robust planning and programming, along with ongoing communication and collaboration with the council, were essential to accommodate all events. Special considerations regarding site access and tidiness were made to ensure there were no disruptions to the day to day activities of the building. The external works proved challenging due to access and site constraints in the busy city centre location. To overcome these, out of hours working had to be planned and co-ordinated with our sub-contractors, and night time crane lifts were required to complete some of the working at height repair works.