Centre’s £47m refit ‘vital for its future’

DEVELOPMENT: The director of the Harrogate Convention Centre says a £47m transformation of the venue is vital to secure its future after councillors approved funding to shape the re-development.

Harrogate Borough Council has agreed to spend more than £1m on design and project work for the 40-year-old venue.

THE DIRECTOR of the Harrogate Convention Centre has stressed a £47m transformation of the venue is vital to secure its future after councillors approved major funding to shape the re-development.

Harrogate Borough Council has agreed to spend more than £1m on design and project work for the 40-year-old venue.

Councillors were told the centre may not survive without investment and is in “critical need” of an upgrade to win back its national appeal.

The venue has seen its finances worsen during its use as a temporary Nightingale hospital, and even with the upgrades it is forecasting to lose £10m over the next 40 years.

However, centre director Paula Lorimer argued the major investment that is needed is outweighed by the benefits the venue brings by attracting as many as 157,000 visitors and contributing £35m to the economy each year.

She said the multi-million pound overhaul could put the centre back at the “top of the table” of conferences nationally.

“There is no reason why we can’t be there again”, she said. “But to do that we need to have a conference centre which is fit for purpose.

“The council has invested a lot of money in trying to keep the convention centre going over the years. But now some of the assets are far too old, so we need to do something and we need to do something now.”

Ms Lorimer said she is confident the centre would be able to secure Government funding towards the £47m upgrade costs if the project could be made “shovel ready”.

In recent years, the council has invested more than £4.3m in the centre, which is the single largest consumer of electricity in the Harrogate district.

The venue has estimated its maintenance costs over the next 20 years could be £19m if the upgrades are not completed.

During a full council meeting on Wednesday evening, the plans received the backing of the opposition Liberal Democrat party, whose leader Pat Marsh said the council must invest in the centre as it has a “significant impact on the prosperity of the district”.

She said: “The decision to do nothing and continue to throw money at this business would lead us nowhere. We could sell the business, but we tried that way back in the 1990s and it went nowhere. We have to bite the bullet. We have to go forward.”

Plans for the rebuild could involve three exhibition halls being demolished to make way for a new 54,000 sq ft hall and a revamped auditorium. The council would need about £20m to construct the first phase of redevelopment.

The council’s deputy leader, Coun Graham Swift, said the business case will “alleviate all costs doubts” of the project before members will next year be asked to progress the upgrade.

We need to do something and we need to do something now. Harrogate Convention Centre director Paula Lorimer.