£20m makeover plan for City Hall
AMBITIOUS FUNDING BID FOR LANDMARK
AN ambitious funding bid is being drawn up for a proposed multi-million pound makeover for Hull City Hall.
The council-owned venue was built between 1903 and 1909 and has played host to a varied programme of live entertainment ever since.
Acts scheduled to appear there in the next few weeks include two-time Strictly Come Dancing winner Oti Mabuse, comedian Al Murray, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and pop star Adam Ant.
Now Hull City Council has appointed specialist consultants to work on a new £20m bid to the second round of the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to refurbish and redevelop the City Hall.
A council decision report confirming the appointment of Hexham-based architectural and energy consultancy D3 Associates was one the last to be signed off by the council’s former Labour leader Daren Hale before being succeeded by new Lib Dem leader Mike Ross.
It said: “The transformative bid to redevelop Hull City Hall into a music hub and a home for variety will take the current building, enhance its operability and create a facility which is unique to Hull and its musical heritage.”
Guildhall officials are hoping for a repeat of the success of a bid to the first round of the Levelling Up Fund which secured an award of £19.5m last October.
That money is being split between the ongoing regeneration of Whitefriargate, the council’s Albion Square development and a new grant scheme aimed at breathing new life into empty buildings across the city centre.
Two years ago the same consultants produced a feasibility study on future options for City Hall.
They had been commissioned by the council following concerns about the need to overhaul some of its ageing internal services as well as the impact of increased competition from the nearby Bonus Arena.
Opened in 2018, the council-owned arena attracts many live shows which may previously have been staged at the City Hall while the University of Hull switched its graduation ceremonies from the city hall to the arena in 2019.
Shows at the city hall were halted during the Covid-19 pandemic when the main auditorium was used as a temporary vaccination centre.
The arena’s state-of-the-art facilities also attract conferences and large-scale events, which were once regular features on the city hall’s calendar while it also enjoys having a multi-storey car park immediately next door.
The feasibility study looked at how the historic venue could be physically reconfigured to not only give a better customer experience, but also provide more educational opportunities for young people.
It also made a series of recommendations to improve accessibility for disabled visitors.
According to the decision record report, the Levelling Up bid will not only cover maintenance work, but will also include proposals for the city hall to be linked up to new £22m district heating network being planned by the council in the city centre.
That project envisages around 50 buildings being connected to a single energy plant generating heating and hot water and D3 Associates has already designed similar district heating schemes in Gateshead and Manchester.
The £66,266 contract to appoint the company as lead consultants will be funded from a £125,000 council budget set aside for using external resources.
The contract was not tendered because of the tight time scale involved in meeting a July 6 deadline for bids to be submitted.