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Town Hall on schedule
The major refurbishment of Skipton Town Hall remains on schedule. The main hall is due to close for events after 20 December until Spring 2015.
Although Craven Museum & Gallery will also remain closed until Spring 2015 school visits to the museum can still be accommodated. Every effort will be made to keep Skipton Tourist Information Centre open as usual but please be aware there may be occassions when the TIC will need to close because of the work taking place. We will keep you posted if this is likely to happen.
Planned Work
A new accessible entrance (pictured) will be created from Jerry Croft enabling the disabled lift to be removed from the front of the Town Hall so the original steps can be restored. An internal lift will be installed to provide access to the first floor offices and Council Chamber of the Town Hall. The existing ground floor toilet facilities have now been demolished with new toilet facilities built a similar location. There are internal alternations at ground and first floor level to accomodate potential commercial tenants aswell as decorating the foyer area of new entrance, installing a new heating system and altering the electrics.
Events
During this early stage of refurbishment we have managed where possible to accommodate some of the events booked into the main hall. Bradford Brass Band are due to give a spectacular performance this weekend, while the Glusburn School of Theatre will perform ‘Getting to know the Sound of Music’ from 18 - 20 December. The last Arts & Crafts fair of 2014 will also take place this Saturday, 20 December.
Open Spring 2015
The refurbishment has now progressed to a point where hosting events in the building is no longer possible. The main hall will briefly open its doors for the annual Skipton Music Festival in March, but will officially re-open in April, when the initial refurbishment is completed.
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Jerry Croft re-opens in time for Yuletide festival
Jerry Croft re-opened for vehicles on 5 December, in time for Skipton's Yuletide Festival & Christmas Market. The breeze block structure alongside Jerry Croft side has been demolished and foundations laid for the new addition. This work required a four week road closure and had to be completed before any of the other planned building work could commence.
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New floor plan taking shape
Builders have been preparing the basement of the Town Hall for the arrival of a new heating system. This will turn Town Hall into a more energy efficient building and allow for the subdivision of the building into separate entities, including stand-alone commercial units. Builders have also been demolishing some dividing walls in order to improve the lay-out for the separate units.
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Commercial lettings
Craven District Council is in talks with a number of parties who have expressed interest in renting the commercial spaces in the Town Hall. We hope to tell you more about this very soon.
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Museum store moved to new site
The museum store has been reorganised and moved into a new site within the Town Hall. This move, alongside a review of the whole collection means that all objects and artworks are much more accessible both for staff and for researchers and visitors.
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Visitor experience project
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Craven Museum & Gallery and Skipton Tourist Information Centre have begun planning for a new visitor experience. Project Officer John Tanner, who is preparing this project's application to the Heritage Lottery Fund, says 'the museum has the potential to enhance Skipton as vital gateway site from the major urban centres of Bradford, Leeds, Manchester and beyond.' Early in 2015, John will be organising a programme of public events to help shape this exciting project, more information on how to get involved will follow in the next newsletter.
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