Meetings of the Hornsey Town Hall Construction Steering Group have resumed, albeit on Zoom.

A well-attended meeting, including local residents, ward councillors and representatives from LBH’s planning department, FEC (the developer), Make Architects, Crouch End Area Assembly,  Crouch End Festival, and HTHT, was held on 2 June.   The minutes are here 200602_Hornsey_Town_Hall_CSG_Meeting-Minutes

There was a lot of frustration expressed at the lack of communication about the introduction of extended working hours on site from the end of April.  Whilst the need for extended working hours was acknowledged due to time lost during at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to operate the site safely and within government guidelines, it was felt the communications with local residents in particular had been inadequate. Following the meeting, this letter was sent to local residents on 5 June 2020: 2006005_Letter_to_Residents_Update_on_hours_of_construction_at_HTH

Both the Trust and Crouch End Area Assembly asked how the effects of  COVID-19 might impact on the delivery of the whole scheme, including the full restoration of Hornsey Town Hall.   Nick Poon from FEC stated that the project would not be affected and would be delivered as originally planned.

Newington Comms has also sent through the group’s Terms of Reference which can be read here: Hornsey_Town_Hall_CSG_Terms_of_Reference_June_2020

The next meeting is scheduled for August.

Residents can direct construction enquiries to Eillish Kwai at Ardmore  between the hours of 08.00-21.00 – ekwai@ardmoregroup.co.uk or on 07776 331724.

There is also a 24-hour emergency hotline at 0208 344 0300.

We’ve been advised that building work has resumed at Hornsey Town Hall as of Monday 27th April.  Ardmore took the decision on 23rd March to suspend construction operations across all its projects including Hornsey Town Hall, for reasons of health, safety and wellbeing of its staff and the wider public.

They say that “the Government has confirmed that construction sites should return to work if they are able to safely comply with the Construction Leadership Council’s Site Operating Procedures. These procedures, which reflect Public Health England guidance, provide sector-specific guidance for construction sites to operate whilst protecting the workforce and the public, and minimising the risk of spread of infection.

“Ardmore has undertaken a review of its current work practices to understand if and how each site could operate in line with these Standard Operating Procedures, as well as reviewing how people can safely travel to and from work and whether additional protection strategies above and beyond the guidelines can be brought in. With this in mind, a managed return to work began at Hornsey Town Hall from Monday 27th April, initially with a limited team in place.

The construction team at Hornsey Town Hall remains directly contactable for any urgent enquiries during this time on: 0208 344 0300.”

Due to the progression of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the trustees, in consultation with the speakers, have decided to postpone the talk on the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall, scheduled for 25th March at Greig City Academy.

Whilst we’re really disappointed about this, particularly as we had such a great response from the local community, we feel it is the prudent thing to do at this time.

We will reschedule as soon as we possibly can and have been in touch by email with all those who registered for tickets.

With thanks for your understanding.

We’ve moved the talk to a larger venue, Greig City Academy, Hornsey High Street, N8 7NU.

More free tickets are now available and you can register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-hornsey-town-hall-tickets-94964664869?aff=ebdssbeac

We look forward to seeing you on 25 March.

All the tickets for the talk about the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall were snapped up very quickly, so we are now securing a larger venue.  We should have news on this next week.

In the meantime, if you would still like to come, we have created a waiting list on Eventbrite and you can add your contact details.

The link is here: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-hornsey-town-hall-tickets-94964664869

Click on Register and then click on Join waitlist.

Following the talk at NLA last month, this is an opportunity for the local community to hear from Make Architects and Historic England  about the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall.  The event will be hosted by Hornsey Town Hall Trust

Date: Wednesday 25th March

Time: 7.00pm-9.00pm

Venue: Union Church and Community Centre, Weston Park, N8 9PX

Register for free tickets here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/restoring-hornsey-town-hall-tickets-94964664869?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

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Regine Kandan from Make Architects, Anusha Le Vasan from Fulkers Bailey Russell and Claire Brady from Historic England gave a presentation at NLA (www.nla.london.com) last night, Tuesday 21st January, on the first steps of the restoration and transformation of Hornsey Town Hall.  The presentation focussed on the Town Hall itself, not the enabling development to the rear of the building.

Claire Brady from Historic England made the point that there was an unusually high number of Listed Building conditions attached (eighteen) to the restoration, all of which were being fulfilled by the developer, FEC.  She talked about the role Historic England had played in the evaluation of all the tenders and commented that the proposed scheme was, in her opinion, the one that represented the best outcome for HTH in that it protected and restored its existing public spaces and was far less intrusive in terms of the original fabric of the building. Claire’s presentation is here (low res version; see below for picture credits): Claire_Brady_HistoricEngland_web

Regine Kandan from Make Architects, the lead designers on the HTH scheme, talked about the three guiding principles in the restoration of the Town Hall: Repair, Restore and Repurpose.  She talked about the poor state of the building prior to being “wrapped up” ahead of the restoration, and the ambition to restore and reuse as much of the existing fabric, fittings and artefacts, right down to the original door handles and clothes hooks in the lavatories.

One particular anecdote stood out: all the clocks in Hornsey Town Hall were once set to the same time and controlled by a single synchronome clock located in the lower ground floor.  (There’s a picture of it on slide 40 of Regine’s presentation).  The theory was that no one would be late for a meeting.  All the clocks will be carefully restored and reused and, where possible, returned to their original location.

Regine’s presentation is here: Make_NLA_Hornsey Town Hall

Some of the detail of Regine’s presentation was based on the Hornsey Town Hall Salvage Strategy, published in July 2019 and available on the LBH planning portal.  You can read the report here: Hornsey_Town_Hall_Salvage_Strategy_July2019

The visuals from Anusha’s presentation are here: Anusha_LeVasan_FulkersBaileyRussell_web

We very much hope that there will local presentations on the restoration of the Town Hall by the architects and Historic England in the coming months and we will report back as soon as we have more news.

Historic England picture credits

Slide 2:       Hornsey Borough map: British History Online

Slide 4:       Leeds Town Hall: insider media

Birmingham Town Hall: Wikipedia

Manchester Town Hall: Wikipedia

East Ham Town Hall: Alamy

Slide 5:       Stockholm Town Hall: Flickr

Hornsey Town Hall: Donald Insall Associates

Slide 6:       Google Streetview

Slides 9-11:Donald Insalls and RIBA

Slide 13:     Tottenham Town Hall: The Dream Centre

Holborn Town Hall:Geography.org.uk

Marylebone Town Hall: Barbourproductsearch.co.uk

Southgate Town Hall: Winkworth.co.uk

Slide 14:     Haringey planning website

Just heard about this free event tomorrow evening, focussing on the restoration and transformation of Hornsey Town Hall.  It’s at NLA, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London WC1E 7BT and starts at 6.30pm.  Nearest tube: Goodge Street or Warren Street.

One of the speakers is Regine Kandan, Partner at Make Architects who are overseeing the restoration of the Town Hall.

More details and free registration here: https://nla.london/events/civic-charm-the-transformation-of-hornsey-town-hall

As part of the CREATE day at Hornsey Town Hall on Saturday, 6 July, there will be several events that focus on the history, heritage and future of the Grade II* listed building.

Katy Ghahremani from Make architects, who are masterminding the regeneration of Hornsey Town Hall, will be talking about the restoration project and the importance of securing a sustainable future at 2.00pm on the first floor of HTH. 

It’s a free drop-in event but booking is advised, link here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hornsey-town-hall-a-sustainable-future-make-architects-tickets-64165522806

Crouch End Walks (https://crouchendwalks.com) will be leading two heritage walks around the Town Hall on Saturday at 11.00am and 12.30pm.  Each walk, which is led by a qualified guide, will last about an hour and will give people an opportunity to see all the original features of this wonderful building.  Meet at the reception desk on the ground floor of Hornsey Town Hall.

The event is free but you can book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hornsey-town-hall-tour-haringey-festival-of-learning-tickets-62299132382?utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=new_event_email&utm_term=viewmyevent_button

In its first newsletter (they will be quarterly) FEC has announced that it has appointed Ardmore Construction http://www.ardmoregroup.co.uk as the contractor for both the restoration and refurbishment of Hornsey Town Hall and the residential development to its rear.

We’re pleased to see that Ardmore has previously worked on a number of listed building projects, including the Grade 1 listed The Ned which was designed by Lutyens and was formerly the HQ of the Midland Bank, and Ten Trinity Square, which is, like Hornsey Town Hall, a Grade II* listed building designed by Sir Edward Cooper in the 1920s and former home to the Port of London Authority.

We look forward to hearing how they (and FEC) plan to work with the community during the build period and more about the developing strategy for the Arts Centre.

FEC has also stated that work on the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall will begin this summer with work completed sometime in early autumn 2021.  Licence holders have now been served notice as the Town Hall will close from July.  Time+Space have told the current occupants of the Town Hall that they have found temporary office and co-working space just off Park Road in Lynton Road, N8.

Time+Space and FEC have also announced a community celebration of Hornsey Town Hall on Saturday 6 July.  More details to follow.

You can read the newsletter here: FEC_Newsletter_for_Hornsey_Town_Hall_June_2019