Plans Unveiled For Town Hall Redevelopment
A new glass front entrance and substantial work inside the buildings will see the Town Hall, Glenroy Auditorium and Municipal Chambers transformed into a world-class performance and conference venue.
Detailed plans and visuals for the $45m redevelopment, for which concept plans were approved by the Dunedin City Council in November last year, were unveiled today.
"This is an exciting project. Much of the work is being driven by necessity because of regulatory requirements. But alongside ensuring that these much-loved heritage buildings are preserved, Dunedin will get a really top performance and conference venue," commented Mayor Peter Chin.
"Public consultation told us pretty clearly that people didn't want to see additions to the Town Hall on the outside and so Council told the design team they had to work within the current building's footprint. This posed some challenges, but they have done a great job of resolving a few awkward issues and coming up with a really innovative and exciting result." he added.
The main exterior change will be the replacement of the existing entrance to the Town Hall, on Moray Place, with a glass cube that will reveal the building's original facade. The cube will open on three sides to allow pedestrians to walk through it as well as being the arrival point for the Town Hall, and will include a lift for disabled access.
Principal architect, Jeff Thompson, of Opus International, said the glass cube was chosen because of its strong, simple form and because it would compliment and accentuate the proportions of the existing structure rather than competing with it. A smaller glass canopy and wind lobby will replace the existing entrance to the Glenroy building on Harrop Street.
Inside the buildings much of the work will take place in the central area, where the Glenroy Auditorium will be gutted and retro-fitted to incorporate new stairs and lifts and new performance and conference areas.
The Glenroy Auditorium will retain its status as the City's Concert Chamber, but a moveable stage will allow flexibility as to how the room is set up for performance, conferences or other events. Extensions into the ground and first floors of the Municipal Chambers will provide extra foyer space for the Glenroy, along with additional space for functions and conferences.
Both the Town Hall and the Glenroy Auditorium will be air-conditioned and sprinklers will be installed throughout the buildings. Seating in the Town Hall will be replaced or refurbished. All infrastructure, including lighting and theatre services, will be overhauled. While little work is being done inside the Town Hall Auditorium itself, the surrounding foyer areas and public facilities will be refurbished, retaining all heritage features.
"One of the main challenges of working within the current building envelope has been resolving the current way-finding and access problems between the Town Hall and Glenroy Auditorium. The solution has been to insert stairs and two new lifts between the buildings. These will work on half-levels, to get around the problem that the floor heights are different. The existing stairs in the Glenroy will be taken out to create much more space," said Mr Thompson.
"Throughout the development of detailed designs we have worked with our heritage consultants to ensure that the plans are sensitive to the heritage values of the building, while also providing the usability demanded in the brief," he said. Council Strategy and Development Manager, Kate Styles, said a key concept driving the design work has been flexibility.
"The business case showed clearly that conferences and events will bring in the revenue that will support the performance and community side of the venue. As a result a lot of effort has gone in to maximising the amount of function space and the two main auditorium spaces must work equally well for conferences and performances. Venues must be able to be set up for different uses or easily combined for large events," she said.
Ms Styles said working drawings were now being completed and the contract would go to tender later this year. It was envisaged that work would begin early in 2010 and be completed within two years.
"We will be doing everything we can to minimise the impact of construction on the public, users and tenants. However, this is a big project and it is inevitable that there will be some disruptions," she said.
"The Town Hall will be kept open as long as possible through the construction period, but will have to close fully from around May 2011 until project completion and for intermittent periods before then. The Glenroy Auditorium will be closed throughout the construction period.
"Harrop Street will be closed for health and safety reasons during the construction period. The taxi stand will stay in the Octagon, but the taxi waiting area will be moved into Stuart Street outside the Cathedral. In the longer term Harrop Street will be closed to through traffic, but remain open to pedestrians and service vehicles. There has always been a safety issue with vehicles loading in and out of the Town Hall in Harrop Street, so the footpath will be moved away from the side of the building
Ms Styles said the Metro Cinema would remain in its current location, but would have to close for around four months during construction and intermittently at other times.
The Visitor Centre would be moved while work was underway in the Municipal Chambers and a search was underway to find suitable premises before the busy cruise ship season. The Council's Property Services Department would be moved permanently from the Municipal Chambers into the Civic Centre.
The men's toilets in Municipal Lane would need to be closed for around four months for construction work and alternative arrangements would be made during that time.
Contact details
Contact DCC on 477 4000.
Last reviewed: 07 Jul 2009 5:18pm
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