{"id":538,"date":"2017-07-12T18:50:42","date_gmt":"2017-07-12T18:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/?p=538"},"modified":"2017-07-12T18:50:42","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T18:50:42","slug":"the-need-to-repair-and-restore-hornsey-town-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2017\/07\/12\/the-need-to-repair-and-restore-hornsey-town-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"The need to repair and restore Hornsey Town Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust (HTHCT) trustees went to the Development Management Forum at the Earl Haig Hall on Monday evening, 10 July.\u00a0\u00a0 There were clearly many concerns from local residents about the scale and density of the residential development which will no doubt be debated and, hopefully, addressed in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

However, what we felt was missing from the meeting was an explanation of where we find ourselves in terms of the repair, restoration and refurbishment of Hornsey Town Hall.<\/p>\n

Haringey Council has been looking for a long-term solution for Hornsey Town Hall for almost two decades.\u00a0 The Grade II* listed building has been on Historic England\u2019s Heritage At Risk register for 17 years now; \u00a0it was first listed as At Risk in 2000.\u00a0 The condition of Hornsey Town Hall is described as \u201cpoor\u201d and subject to \u201cslow decay\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is estimated that it will cost at least \u00a310 million to repair Hornsey Town Hall just to a standard that gets it off the At Risk register.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s money that Haringey Council simply doesn\u2019t have, even more so in the light of the present cuts to local government.<\/p>\n

As we heard on Monday, there\u2019s water ingress in the Assembly Hall, there is no proper disabled access to the building, the brick work is cracking, there\u2019s asbestos in its structure, and the beautiful Council Chamber needs to be restored to its full, former glory.\u00a0\u00a0 And there\u2019s a host of other problems with the building.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Beyond that, it needs further investment to turn the historic parts of the building into an arts centre with, crucially, a sustainable future.<\/p>\n

That is why the residential units to the rear of the Town Hall are the enabling development that will provide the investment to restore HTH.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This, and the restoration of the Town Hall, was at the heart of the planning consent that was granted in 2010.\u00a0\u00a0 FEC\u2019s current plans are at http:\/\/www.restoringhornseytownhall.com\/resources<\/p>\n

At last night\u2019s meeting, people also questioned both the community\u2019s desire for and business case for a hotel in the building.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One gentleman referred to a consultation that showed a tiny percentage of people were in favour of a hotel.\u00a0\u00a0 That consultation was undertaken by HTHCT in May 2015 and appended to the report that went to Cabinet later that year.\u00a0\u00a0 Three hundred and thirty two people responded; the first question was:<\/p>\n

What is your aspiration for community use and access at Hornsey Town Hall?<\/p>\n

Please tell us overall how you imagine being able to use and access the town hall in the future?<\/em><\/p>\n

The overwhelming percentage of people, 27.68%, wanted arts and creative uses in HTH with a further 22.64% wanting community facilities. \u00a0\u00a0This was closely followed by educational opportunities and business space.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, very few wanted HTH to be used solely<\/em> as a hotel but what is clear from all the financial planning that has been undertaken over the years is that a financial driver \u2013 an anchor tenant \u2013 is needed to secure the future of this historic building, alongside arts and community use.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That financial driver is the hotel sited in the less historic parts of the building.\u00a0\u00a0 And arts and community use is what FEC, in partnership with a still-to-be-appointed arts operator, is obliged to deliver as part of the development agreement signed with Haringey Council.\u00a0\u00a0 You can read the whole report here 150608_hth_community_use_and_access_paper2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Underpinning this is the Community Use Agreement (CUA) Hornsey_Town_Hall_Community_Use_Agreement_2017<\/a>\u00a0which guarantees a minimum of 60% of community and arts use throughout the year, which will be overseen and safeguarded by a Steering Group comprising ward councillors, the arts operator, a representative from FEC, a representative from HTHCT, and members of community groups.\u00a0 This Steering Group, which will meet quarterly, will be formed six months before the doors of HTH open again.\u00a0 Many people have commented that the CUA is too broad but it is, at this stage of the project, a legally-binding document that sets out the core principles under which both FEC and the arts operator will work.\u00a0 To make the arts and community centre viable, there has to be the right mix of arts, community and commercial uses, just as there is in ANA\u2019s (Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre) current model.<\/p>\n

Finally, many people have questioned the need for a hotel in Crouch End since the news was announced last September.\u00a0\u00a0 First, the hotel rooms, as was explained last night, will be in the basement and at the rear (mostly sited in the spaces that were designated residential spaces in the 2010 planning consent) of the Town Hall.\u00a0\u00a0 Second, we asked FEC why they thought a hotel would work in Crouch End; they expect 60% of their bookings will come from short stays; 40% will comprise people who work in London during the week and need somewhere to stay, and who will return home at the weekend.<\/p>\n

We hope that local people, \u00a0in responding to the planning application which is due to be submitted later this month, will bear in mind the community’s overwhelming wish to see Hornsey Town Hall fully repaired and restored.\u00a0\u00a0 There is still much work to be done on the proposals and FEC needs to respond properly and openly to community concerns about the enabling development and other issues raised at the Development Management Forum.<\/p>\n

We will be submitting our own formal response to the planning application in our role as the HTH buildings preservation trust once those plans are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust (HTHCT) trustees went to the Development Management Forum at the Earl Haig Hall on Monday evening, 10 July.\u00a0\u00a0 There were clearly many concerns from local residents about the scale and density of the residential development which will no doubt be debated and, hopefully, addressed in the coming weeks. However, what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6JaYr-8G","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2699,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2020\/02\/15\/restoring-hornsey-town-hall-wednesday-25th-march\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":0},"title":"Restoring Hornsey Town Hall – Wednesday 25th March","date":"February 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the talk at NLA last month, this is an opportunity for the local community to hear from Make Architects and Historic England \u00a0about\u00a0the restoration of Hornsey Town Hall. \u00a0The event will be\u00a0hosted by Hornsey Town Hall Trust Date: Wednesday 25th March Time: 7.00pm-9.00pm Venue: Union Church and Community Centre,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":589,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2017\/10\/17\/fec-publishes-details-of-restoration-costs-for-hornsey-town-hall\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":1},"title":"FEC publishes details of restoration costs for Hornsey Town Hall","date":"October 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"FEC has published the headline costs for the repair and restoration of Hornsey Town Hall. It represents an investment in HTH in excess of \u00a330 million, with \u00a325.5 million spent on the building and the Town Hall Square, and a further \u00a32 million on the fit-out of the arts, community\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":411,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2016\/09\/30\/hornsey-town-hall-announcement-of-preferred-bidder\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":2},"title":"Hornsey Town Hall – announcement of preferred bidder","date":"September 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, Friday 30 September, Haringey Council announced its preferred bidder for the Hornsey Town Hall project (hornsey-town-hall-press-release-september-2016). \u00a0This is not the culmination of the OJEU process as the recommendation now goes forward to the Cabinet on Tuesday 18 October, at which point and if agreed, the council will enter into\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1745,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/06\/01\/fec-appoints-contractor-for-hornsey-town-hall\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":3},"title":"FEC appoints contractor for Hornsey Town Hall","date":"June 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In its first newsletter (they will be quarterly) FEC has announced that it has appointed Ardmore Construction\u00a0http:\/\/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\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":640,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2018\/05\/03\/hornsey-town-hall-deal-completed\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":4},"title":"Hornsey Town Hall deal completed","date":"May 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"FEC and Haringey Council signed the development agreement yesterday, Wednesday 2 May.\u00a0 FEC issued the attached press release today, 3 May. 180503_HTH_completion This is an important milestone in the life of Hornsey Town Hall and will realise the much-needed multi-million pound restoration of this Grade II* listed building.\u00a0 \u00a0There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":106,"url":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/07\/13\/planning-consent-for-hornsey-town-hall-welcomed\/","url_meta":{"origin":538,"position":5},"title":"Planning consent for Hornsey Town Hall welcomed","date":"July 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Chair of Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust welcomed the decision to grant planning consent to Hornsey Town Hall. The Chair of Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust, the body that has been working in partnership with Haringey Council to restore the magnificent Grade II* listed building, today welcomed the decision\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hornsey-town-hall.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}