£500,000 earmarked for 'essential' repairs to Hyde Town Hall

Hyde Town Hall is set to be awarded £500,000 to replace four boilers and remove asbestos that has been discovered inside its basement.

Large areas of the Grade II-listed building, which opened in 1865, have been without heating since its boilers failed in late 2023, with portable electric heaters being used as a temporary measure. 

The works will replace two boilers in the basement and another pair on the roof at a cost of £428,000.  

However, contractors will need to remove all traces of asbestos before installing them. 

The areas with potentially cancer-causing asbestos containing materials (ACMs) have already been made secure, including a small part of the ground floor. 

Tameside Council (TMBC) expect the bill for the asbestos part of the renovation to come to £68,000, with the money for the whole scheme coming from a pot of almost £2million set aside in 2021 for planned and preventative maintenance. 

Hyde Town Hall has the highest running costs of any building in TMBC’s estate, costing £663,000 to operate for 2023/24 - £150,000 higher than its budget – although the new heating system is expected to lower this significantly. 

“The building benefitted from a light refurbishment in 2015 but has not benefitted from significant investment since then other than routine repairs,” said a Council report.  

“There are other works required to bring the building up to standard. These have yet to be costed and will be the subject of a further report seeking draw down of the required funding.” 

These ‘other works’ include repairing a series of leaks that have created water damage to offices.  

Two leaks have already been fixed, but a third area is harder to reach and will require internal scaffolding leading from the basement, which again cannot be accessed until the removal of the ACMs. 

In turn, the water damaged rooms will not be redecorated until contractors can seal the roof. 

Tameside’s Children’s Services are likely to shift to the Town Hall, with staff from Jubilee Gardens and Fairfield Children’s Centre relocating there. 

This is projected to save the Council £174,000 per year, excluding any additional funds recouped through hiring the buildings out.