Rochdale’s Town Hall Square is set to undergo a massive redevelopment as part of plans to put it at the centre of a transformed public realm in the heart of Rochdale.
The news comes just weeks after the 1st stage of a major £8.9 million Heritage Lottery Fund bid was approved for the Grade I listed town hall.
Plans for the spectacular building include a large scale restoration and the creation of new interpretation spaces which will tell the story of Rochdale.
The council’s cabinet has now approved plans to procure a team of architects to come up with ideas to redesign the space to better frame the spectacular town hall.
While plans will be developed by architects and consulted on with the public, initial ideas include the repurposing of road junctions in the area to make it more pedestrian friendly and there is also potential to close the Esplanade to traffic to create a large scale events space.
Councillor Janet Emsley, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, community and culture, said: “Positioned next to our Grade I listed town hall, Grade I listed war memorial cenotaph, St Chad’s Saxon Church and the beautiful old post office building, this is an incredibly important part of the town centre. We need to ensure that Town Hall Square lives up to its beautiful surroundings, particularly now that we have secured lottery support to turn the town hall into a major visitor attraction and completed our award-winning river re-opening project.
“Our town centre has already benefitted from a £250 million transformation and improving the public realm and heritage offer is a major part of our plans for the next phase of regeneration, which we will be announcing soon. This exciting project will help give Town Hall Square pride of place in our rapidly improving town centre.”
The council is hoping to appoint specialist architects in September 2018, with any proposals set to go out to public consultation before work begins on site.
