Inside the once magnificent town hall which has been left in ruin
13.04.2023 - 10:21
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
New images of crumbling ceilings and rotting beams have laid bare the challenges of repairing Ashton’s Grade-Two listed iconic Town Hall.
Tameside council is planning to repair the building on Market Square after winning nearly £20m in Levelling Up funding in 2021.
And now planning documents have revealed the scale of the works needed to restore the iconic building in the heart of Ashton-under-Lyne to its former glory.
Ashton Town Hall, which opened in 1840, has been closed, along with the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, since 2015.
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It houses the Civic Hall, which contains the former full council chamber. Currently full council meetings take place at Dukinfield Town Hall, and also Guardsman Tony Downes House in Droylsden.
Reports had previously revealed that ‘significant damage’ occurred when the physical link between the town hall and the Tameside Administrative Centre (TAC) was disconnected in order to demolish the centre and clear the site.
Now a planning application for listed building consent from the council’s development partner Robertson North West has been lodged.
The proposed enabling works include a temporary rainwater diversion to facilitate the drying of saturated external masonry, scaffolding and tenting methodology, additional localised ceiling penetrations to provide access for intrusive roof timber surveys and removal of the ballroom timber stage intervention.
A structural survey submitted with the application states that some elements of the building have become ‘dangerous’.
“Internally the building bears evidence of many prior alterations, some of which appear ramshackle/substandard