Earlier this year (2014), Lambeth Council and Muse Developments signed an agreement to develop the project, which will reduce the Council’s core office buildings from 14 to 2, saving at least £4.5m a year.
New jobs and homes
The scheme will also create new jobs and homes, deliver a purpose-built new council office building and free up space in the Town Hall for business and community use. The development will pay for itself through the redevelopment of old office buildings that are increasingly expensive to run.
The Council has already begun to deliver on its pledge to open up the iconic building to the wider community, set out in the Your New Town Hall strategy. Impact Hub Brixton, the new “hot-desking” enterprise space for the borough’s fledgling businesses, opened in the Town Hall two months ago.
In partnership with Muse, the Council is holding a number of open consultation sessions where residents, businesses and community interest groups will be able to contribute to the design process. The extensive consultation process is being supported by information on the Lambeth website and a dedicated project website www.yournewtownhall.org.
Give us feedback at our events or at the Town Hall exhibition
A permanent exhibition, questionnaires and feedback wall is also available in reception at the Town Hall. The “Community Design” round of engagement will include an initial series of workshops with immediate neighbours followed by workshops with community interest groups to consider the publicly accessible areas of the Town Hall.
Public drop in sessions are being held to gain feedback on how people would like to interact with and use the new Town Hall, and the whole borough will be invited to attend these as follows:
- Wed 16 July, any time from 10am until 3pm The Brix St Matthews, Brixton Hill, SW2 1JF.
- Thurs 17 July, any time from 4pm until 8pm Karibu Education Centre, Gresham Road, SW9 7PH.
- Sat 19 July, any time from 12pm to 5pm at the Lambeth Country Show, Picnic zone, P27
(slightly downhill from Village Green stage). - Sun 20 July, any time from 12pm to 5pm at the Lambeth Country Show, Picnic zone, P27
(slightly downhill from the Village Green stage).
The feedback received during the various workshops, public drop in events and via the dedicated website www.yournewtownhall.org will all be considered by the Council and Muse’s design team as they work up the detail of the proposals. A further round of public consultation and engagement will then be undertaken on these in the autumn.
In brief
The Your New Town Hall project will:
- Preserve the current, historic Town Hall and open up it up extensively for use by local people
- Deliver a purpose-built, energy efficient, new council office
- Create space for start-up businesses to encourage innovation and entrepreneurial spirit
- Create new community spaces
- Deliver around 275 much-needed new homes for the borough, of which the aim is to secure 40% as ‘affordable’
- Generate hundreds of construction jobs, including around 45 apprenticeships.
hi having looked at the plans,even though you have reduced Hambrook Hse from 20 to 14 storeys, this in my opinion is still too tall a building.It dominates and over shadows the surrounding buildings.The old tower on the town hall should be the main feature which dominates. We dont want Brixton looking like Croyden or Manhattan.Keeping the old exterior of Ivor Hse is good,mix the old with the new. Low rise is the answer.