£1 million plan for Marlborough (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

£1 million plan for Marlborough

7:00am Friday 28th January 2011 in News

Town clerk Liam Costello, left, and architect Andrew Bumphrey

Plans to spend up to £1 million on upgrading Marlborough’s Town Hall have been unveiled by the town council .

The council wants to add hi-tech cinema and theatre facilities and a museum – but is pledging it will not add a penny to council tax bills.

The council plans to borrow the money from Government’s Public Works and Loans Board at a low interest. Repayments would be met partly from greater income generated by the revamp and from letting out the council offices, which would move into new rooms created in the hall.

On Monday night the scheme was rolled out for the first time and hailed by most councillors as a great idea .

But the plans still have to be shown to the public and there will be an exhibition and full consultation.

The only proposed exterior change to the 107-year-old building will be a lift shaft on its southern side, opposite the Bear Hotel, built in matching brick and stone to enable five levels of the building to be used instead of two at present.

The public toilets in the basement which closed four years ago will re-open with two unisex cubicles.

The lift will travel up to the unused fourth floor, reached only by a 20ft high ladder at present. The fourth floor will be divided with the lower space used as dressing rooms for stage productions and the upper level for storage space for archives.

The courtroom on the ground floor will be split horizontally at its west end between the main door and pillars with a mezzanine floor providing new office space.

The unused basement, which houses the original cells from when the hall was a courthouse, could become a museum.

Proposed improvements for the large assembly room on the second floor include digital cinema projection equipment with a large screen, vastly improved stage lighting, a new audio system with better acoustics and better insulation.

Architect Andrew Bumphrey has drawn up the plans and Coun Guy Loosmore is the project leader. Coun Loosmore said: “Clearly this will be a very significant project and probably the largest project ever considered by this council and therefore there will be significant costs.”