Planning of the project required careful consideration to minimise disturbance to the Town Hall’s occupants and to maintain public safety in a busy town centre.

Restoration, alteration and extension of the Grade II listed Town Hall provided a multi-function main hall, museum and support facilities, offices, education room, changing rooms and offered stair and lift vertical circulation over two main floor levels, ground to first floor.

Refurbishment and alterations work also included the restoration of the fabric of the building, internal and external alterations. With a new build two-storey extension to the east and new services installations.

A separate contractor undertook the museum fit-out and we as the Main Contractor liaised closely with them throughout the project.

The scope of works involved careful removal of all the existing slates from the roofs, setting aside all undamaged and sound slates for reuse. Reinstalling set aside slates and new slates on freshly treated timber slate battens, breathable membrane, and breathable insulation.

The existing single-glazed roofs were carefully removed and new slate grey powder-coated aluminium framed double-glazed roofs were installed. The cast iron roof lights were also carefully removed, sympathetically repaired, and restored and upgraded to take heritage-style double glazing. All lead work was renewed.

The existing cast iron guttering, downpipes and all associated brackets were removed, repaired, restored and reinstated in their original location. The flat roofs were stripped and recovered incorporating thicker insulation to meet current building regulations. Existing metal walkways were removed, cleaned, repaired and reinstated in their original position.

New walkways were installed to allow safe access to the access hatches in the windows of Victoria Hall, and new guardrails were installed across windows where the existing walkways passed them. The rotten timber gantry platform was replaced with a new galvanised gantry platform to match the existing walkway system. Specialised cleaning of the bird guano and replacement of the bird control netting to the clock tower and ventilation stacks.

Repair, restoration and refurbishment of the windows to the Victoria Hall. Works included redecoration, glazing repairs, new access hatches and the installation of secondary glazing to improve the acoustic insulation of the hall.

Removal of organic growth from the internal side of the parapet wall and any high-level areas where accessible from the scaffolding. This included patch repairs to the pointing in a suitable lime mortar. Careful removal of redundant corroded metal fixings from the stone, where accessible from the scaffolding. Upgrading the existing lightning protection system to the whole building.

Installation of new electric chandelier winches and repair and restoration of the chandeliers within the Victoria Hall. Installation of new rigging points within the roof void of Victoria Hall, works included structural strengthening works to the roof structure.

It showcases a wealth of paintings, sculptures, works on paper and new media by well-known artists.

Bermar was proud to work on this Grade II listed building owned and administered by Leeds City Council. The works involved a phased roof replacement programme together with safe access, rainwater goods and replacement, upgrade and alteration of the existing roof services.

The formation of a new lift shaft and central staircase. All new mechanical, electrical and finishes including acoustic ceilings ready for the fit-out contractor to install the Museum’s exhibits in 4 separate Galleries

To ensure that the building could still be used by employees we kept our works separate from the live areas by erecting a full-height temporary partition complete with doors and dust seals. We also highlighted the most disruptive elements and agreed to do these out of hours and at weekends when the Museum was quieter. We also maintained a full emergency fire route through the middle of the site.

The mechanical and electrical services included emergency and IT functionality which was maintained throughout the construction phase. Work had to be planned and a new system put into place next to the existing, Change over from new to old were planned out of hours and at weekends to ensure the museum staff could continue to use the building

The new lift shaft and new main staircase were constructed through the middle of the original Victorian structure and elements of historical importance had to be maintained for conservation purposes in this listed building. Together with specialist temporary works companies, we designed a propping system that used the existing structural walls to carry the propping loads. This avoided the need for strengthening any floors or building temporary foundations in the basement. Having to keep the existing features in place meant that the access to the site area was extremely tight and it was impossible to lift in the required Steel. With our Steel fabricator and an engineer, we redesigned the original steel into smaller sections that could be manhandled. We also reprogrammed the construction sequence to allow certain sections of steel to be used in the propping of the structure

The works had to be carefully programmed to allow the galleries to be phased and handed back to the museum’s fit-out contractor. We had to share the site with the Fit-out Team for many months and a close working relationship was vital. We had weekly meetings with their team. Inducted all their staff onto our site for health and safety reasons and managed all of the interfaces. This was particularly important for the services. We kept control of all the systems to ensure there was a single point of control because of this the Museum was able to save months on the overall programme and open in time for the busy school holiday period.

The works comprised of the internal and external refurbishment of the original Victorian Market Hall including full structural repairs, mechanical and electrical alteration works, re-roofing and recreation of the old market stall shop fronts.