Restoring town hall facade to its former glory

A £600,000 external restoration project is under way at Newark Town Hall.

Scaffolding is being erected at the Grade I listed building to enable specialist craftsmen to work on the facade, which dates to 1774.

Repairs will be carried out on the masonry, roof and windows of the elevations overlooking the Market Place as well as more general maintenance repairs.

The Town Hall is owned by Newark Town Council, which leased the building to a retail property developer in 1988 to enable renovations to be carried out.

As part of the agreement the first and second floors, including the ballroom and council chambers, were leased back to the council, leaving the ground floor as the Buttermarket shopping area.

The council, which has to make an agreed contribution towards the cost of external works, will be putting £288,000 towards the project.

The work will be carried out by Skillingtons Stonemasons, of Grantham, and Stamford-based Messenger Construction.

The project will be overseen by historical building consultants Powell Williams, which was commissioned two years ago by M&M Asset Management, on behalf of leaseholder Lunar Retail Sarl, to assess the state of the building.

The consultants brought in additional expertise from Skillingtons to produce a repair strategy for the masonry.

Traditional techniques

Managing partner and lead consultant Mr Andy Williams said it had taken two years of painstaking research and investigation to determine the condition of the building.

“The construction team are now in a position to commence repair of this excellent example of Georgian architecture,” he said.

“Adopting the principals of good conservation with the aim of limiting the loss of historic fabric, the work will involve sympathetic repair of decayed stonework using traditional techniques and locally-sourced stone.”

Mr Williams said while the scaffolding was in place it was sensible to also do any necessary repairs to timber windows, roof and lead work as well as redecoration.

He said they appointed a skilled team of stonemasons and a contractor highly experienced with heritage building who would ensure the repairs were carried out sympathetically.

“The key to protecting an impressive Grade I listed building such as this is in the preparation and ensuring the right investigations are carried out up front,” said Mr Williams. “This has been the scope of the project for the last two years.”

He said the challenge now was to carry out repairs while the building was occupied. Access to the Town Hall and the rest of the Buttermarket will be maintained.

Town council leader Mr David Lloyd said: “The Town Hall is the most prestigious building in Newark. It is imperative it is properly maintained and preserved for future generations to admire.

“There will be some disruption to the Town Hall and users of the Market Place, but we have been reassured such impact will be kept to an absolute minimum.

The work is due to be completed by the start of November.