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‘Extensive’ re-roofing works planned for historic Ashton Town Hall

Monday, 31 July 2023 16:04

By Charlotte Green, Local Democracy Reporter

‘Extensive’ re-roofing works to be carried out at Ashton-under-Lyne’s Grade-Two listed historic town hall.

Tameside council is endeavouring to repair the iconic building on Market Square after winning nearly £20m in Levelling Up funding in 2021.

Previous planning documents had revealed the scale of the works needed to restore the 183-year-old building in the town centre to its former glory.

A new application for listed building consent has now been submitted by the local authority which includes ‘extensive re-roofing works’, as well as gutter replacements, localised repairs to stonework and repairs to the main part of the building.

Ashton Town Hall, which opened in 1840, has been closed, along with the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, since 2015.

It houses the Civic Hall, which contains the former full council chamber. Currently full council meetings take place at Dukinfield Town Hall, and also Guardsman Tony Downes House in Droylsden.

Reports had previously revealed that ‘significant damage’ occurred when the physical link between the town hall and the Tameside Administrative Centre (TAC) was disconnected in order to demolish the centre and clear the site.

Ongoing issues with damp and moisture in the roof have been the main source of problems in much of the deteriorating building.

“The primary area of concern is the continual water ingress,” the latest heritage statement says.

“The moisture content of the masonry currently prohibits any localised repairs and it has been advised the installing new timbers into wet masonry will only encourage wet rot and deterioration within the replaced members.

“The principal constraint and challenge identified is drying the building structure.”

The proposed works also include localised chimney repairs and removal, structural stone work repairs and replacement where required and removal of legacy iron fixings.

According to the remedial works schedule, the most urgent repairs are identified on the roof parapets on the southern, western and eastern frontages.

An existing internal downpipe has also been leaking at roof level and ‘saturating’ the surrounding timber and masonry, which is also listed as an urgent repair.

“The public benefits and heritage benefits associated with the repair works are considered to clearly outweigh the less than substantial harm to the heritage asset resulting from the interventions described,” the supporting documents add.

“The proposed repair works will facilitate the longer term ability to bring the vacant town hall back into use, helping to regenerate its immediate setting, and bringing economic and social benefits and will ensure the listed building has a sustainable future and its
long term maintenance is managed.”

The report also notes that opening up new areas within the historic building may reveal ‘additional defects to those that were not apparent as part of visual inspection’.

Bosses had planned to reopen the town hall as part of phase three of the Vision Tameside project, but the collapse of construction firm Carillion in 2018 delayed works.

The council had previously budgeted £10m from its capital budget renovate the iconic civic building.

In January 2020 the council agreed to spend £270k on urgent repairs to the town hall, with emergency repair works costing £120k to the building parapet and roof.

Officers had warned that if works were not undertaken urgently then the ‘ significant heritage asset may be put at risk’.

A decision on the plans is expected from September.

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