Council reveals £3m plan to ‘frame’ town hall glory
ROCHDALE Council has revealed plans for what a £3million revamp of the Town Hall Square might look like.
The cabinet approved a motion to procure architects to come up with ideas to redesign the space to “better frame the spectacular town hall”.
One artist’s impression shows the area pedestrianised with the potential to close the Esplanade to traffic and create a largescale events space.
The council said this is just one idea and plans will be subject to public consultation.
It comes after the first stage of a £8.9m Heritage Lottery Fund bid was approved for the grade I listed town hall.
Plans for the building include a major restoration and the creation of new interpretation spaces which will tell the story of Rochdale.
Cllr Janet Emsley said: “Positioned next to our grade I listed town hall, grade I listed war memorial cenotaph, St Chad’s Saxon Church and the beautiful old post office building, this is an incredibly important part of the town centre.
“We need to ensure that Town Hall Square lives up to its beautiful surroundings, particularly now that we have secured lottery support to turn the town hall into a major visitor attraction and completed our award-winning river re-opening project.
“Our town centre has already benefitted from a £250m transformation and improving the public realm and heritage offer is a major part of our plans for the next phase of regeneration, which we will be announcing soon. This exciting project will help give Town Hall Square pride of place in our rapidly improving town centre.”
The council is also hoping the project will better connect Rochdale’s heritage and cultural quarter, which also includes Touchstones Museum and Art Gallery, with the rest of the town centre.
Other projects include the recently-launched Heritage Action Zone (HAZ), which will see the council work with Historic England over the next five years to bring a number of historic buildings back into use as businesses and homes in and around Drake Street.
The council has already committed £1.6m to the project and could also be in line for a £500,000 grant from Historic England.
The council, working with RDA, is hoping to appoint specialist architects in September, with any proposals set to go out to public consultation before work begins on site.