new feature on Albert Square is offering a fascinating glimpse into the work of the skilled craftspeople helping to repair and restore Manchester Town Hall.
The artisan studio – which literally gives a window into some of the work taking place on the Our Town Hall project – will enable the public to watch and listen as specialists carry out painstaking and intricate work while explaining what they are doing and how they forged their own careers in the built environment.
Demonstrations take place every Wednesday from 12.30pm-1.30pm up to and including Wednesday 21 December, resuming in early 2023.
First up to showcase their skills, from now until the Christmas break, are restoration and conservation experts Stone Edge. They will be explaining the story of the stone, from the quarry to its final installation in the building, as they carve ornate new pieces to replace worn and damaged stonework from the town hall.
Stone Edge will be followed in the New Year by craftspeople including Heritage Mosaic, who are restoring the Town Hall’s intricately designed marble piece-patterned floors.
As well as the obvious legacy of safeguarding the Town Hall and improving access to the building and its treasures, one of the Our Town Hall project’s key objectives is to create a legacy of skills, jobs and inspiration, which the Council are working with management contractor Lendlease to achieve.
So far 237 new jobs have been created through the project, 75 apprenticeships (level two and three) – 68 of them taken up by Manchester people – and a further 48 higher level apprenticeships. This includes three apprentices taken on by Stone Edge.
