THE transformation of a Grade II listed building from former town hall to community hub is on course – despite having to overcome several challenges.
Despite the pandemic, Brexit and complications due to ships being stuck in the Suez Canal, managers are confident the Guisborough Town Hall Gateway Project will be ready to open next March.
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The town’s residents were recently given the opportunity to see how work is progressing in the restoration of the former town hall in Westgate.
The building, the centrepiece of the Market Place, was built in 1821 on the site of a toll booth, and over the years has been used as a magistrates’ office, petty sessions court and a base for solicitors.
It has stood empty since 2013, and is now owned by Redcar and Cleveland Council after a £1.1m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to transform it into a community and tourism hub. Other funding has included £300,000 from the Tees Valley Mayor and combined authority.
Last week an exhibition in Guisborough Community Centre, in Sunnyfield House, showed some of the ancient documents recovered from the building, along with demonstrations of traditional skills such as stonemasonry and wool spinning.
There was also a model of the town hall built with Lego bricks by Steve Mayes, and a photographic display of the interior of the building.
The mayor of Redcar and Cleveland, Councillor Carol Morgan visited the exhibition and was shown around by project chairman, Andy Murray.
Other exhibitors included the Gisborough Priory Project, Guisborough Museum, the Archaeological Society and Tockett’s Mill.
For the first time, visitors were able to go on hard hat tours of the interior of the building, guided by Ian Smithwhite, senior conservation officer at Sunderland City Council.
A group of year nine and ten students from Laurence Jackson School were taken on a tour to learn about principal contractor Hall Construction’s involvement in restoring the building.
The students found out about the variety of careers and the type of skills and training employers look for within the construction industry and the different roles involved in heritage, including volunteering and community work.
On the ground floor, visitors were shown the two major metal columns which were originally believed to be supporting the building. On excavation, it was found that they were merely standing on a large stone, surrounded by sand – and the building would have eventually collapsed without the strengthening work that has now been undertaken to underpin the entire building. Water was found standing underneath the floorboards.
The lower floor will include information for tourists, an accommodation bureau, details of local attractions and events, a heritage interpretation area, exhibition space, and a gin distillery for Shorty’s Gins, currently based in Whitby. For tourists there will also be a drying room, boot room and cycle storage space.
On the first floor, there will be family, pod and group en-suite bedrooms, aimed at accommodating walkers and cyclists. The top floor will include a communal space, with a fully-equipped kitchen.
The project aims to be self-financing once completed and all the facilities have now been let. The hall will hold up to 28 people.
The outside of the building has now been fully restored, with the stonework washed and repointed with the windows replaced in accordance with its Grade II listing.
Work still continues and it is hoped to be completed by March next year. The sheeting erected for the construction work has now been partially removed so as to expose the top third of the site.
Andrew Richardson, senior project officer for Redcar and Cleveland Council said: “I’m really pleased. We’ve had a heck of a lot of challenges from the building itself from the structural point of view but obviously with the pandemic, Brexit, ships stuck in the (Suez) Canal, so to be where we are now, looking at a February completion, it’s going well.
“We’re expecting to completely open in March for tenants. We’ve had to revisit the budget, partly because of the condition of the building.
“A lot of this was below the ground, even though we did intrusive surveys, we just couldn’t have picked up these issues without digging down. Some of it came out of the archaeology which meant we had to look at the budget again.”
Mr Murray added: “Guisborough Festival Day has been a hugely successful event.
“Not only has the community seen the first sight of the highly impressive revamping of Guisborough Town Hall, which has excited everyone, we have also seen the many Guisborough-based heritage groupings working together demonstrating the rich heritage of our town.
“All involved have worked very hard to make this success and we will repeat it in future years.”
Mr Murray is still working on obtaining additional funding for the project.
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