GOING DOWN?
Assembly Rooms a step closer to demolition
councillors have voted to take the next step that could see Derby’s Assembly Rooms demolished in the next five years.
They have agreed that the planning application to demolish it should be referred to the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick, accompanied by a resolution that the planning control committee is minded to grant permission to demolish.
If Mr Jenrick does not call the application in for further scrutiny, then permission will be granted with conditions that say the 43-year-old building cannot be demolished until an alternative plan is in place – and that process has been given up to five years to achieve.
Eight of the city’s planning control councillors voted with the officer’s recommendation to refer the matter to the Secretary of Sate and two voted against – councillors Lucy Care and Joanna West.
A number of the councillors taking part in the virtual meeting spoke on the subject together with three members of the public.
Mrs Care said she was concerned that not enough had been done to see what could be achieved with the existing building before agreeing to demolition.
She said: “In a time of climate change, demolishing this building would release carbon and putting something up in its place made of brick and steel would be detrimental to the climate also. We should be looking to the future and be more creative. We should keep this building and turn down the application and explore how we can re-use it.”
The same sentiment was expressed by town and country planner Jonathan Jenkin who said the city was turning its back on the building.
He said: “Since 2014, the city centre has been deprived of the building. It could have been repaired and used for other things.
“If the go-ahead for demolition is given, the building will deteriorate. The Theatres Trust says it should be repurposed and that demolition is not an option.”
Planning officer Paul Clarke said that the building would have been reopened had it been safe, and as the city council is unwilling to reopen it then a plan is needed and a strategy that signals to the market that helps the city centre.
Councillor Ross McCristal said that Derby city centre “needs to be rebalanced” and that the best way to move on would be by “demolishing it” to “give the Cathedral Quarter a chance to thrive and succeed.”
“Very conflicted” was how Councillor Mike Carr described his feelings about the application. He said: “It’s very sad and I do understand that to refurbish the Assembly Rooms would cost in excess of £30 million, which is a lot of money. I am also uneasy about the carbon impact from any demolition.”
Fellow councillor Paul Pegg said the whole issue was “a mess”. He said: “Reports that have been received say the place is collapsing around our ears and as a lay person that says to me it needs to be demolished. We have no alternative but to move things forward.
“It’s an ugly building and a blight on the Market Place because it doesn’t blend in and it’s well past its sell-by date.”
Councillor Steve Hassall also agreed the city needs to move forward and added: “We need to do something” and Councillor Paul Bettany said: “We cannot leave it as it is.”
Mr Clarke earlier told the meeting that the building was protected from being listed by a certificate of immunity which runs out in May but said he understood that another had been applied for.
He also said that 19 letters of support, 38 letters of objections and a petition of more than 1,600 names objecting to the demolition had been received by the planning department.
These included objections from a number of prominent architects because the building is an example of the Brutalist style.
Brutalism is a style that emerged in the 1950s and grew out of the early-20th century modernist moveCITY ment. Brutalist buildings are often characterised by their massive, monolithic and blocky appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of poured concrete.
The city’s Conservation Area Advisory Committee, the council’s built environment team and the national Twentieth Century Society objected to the demolition, while Historic England has “serious concerns regarding the application on heritage grounds”.
The planning application also includes the demolition of the adjacent car park, in which a fire took place in the plant room on March 14, 2014, and led to the closure of the Assembly Rooms seven years ago.
It is not known how long it will take the Secretary of State to decide if he wants to call it in or not.
Various plans for the Assembly Rooms have been put forward over the past few years, which include demolishing and building a new one in its place and, more recently, the current council administration had decided to refurbish it at a cost of £23 million.
But the plug was pulled on that plan earlier this year when it was realised that the work would cost in the region of £33.5 million instead.
Last July, the council announced it was planning to build an alternative performance venue, holding 3,500 people and costing £43 million, in the Becketwell area of the city, and wanted to demolish the Assembly Rooms within the next 18 months.
It’s an ugly building and a blight on the Market Place because it doesn’t blend in.
Paul Pegg