£1 million repair works set to be carried out at Northampton Guildhall

Conservative councillors on Northampton Borough Council’s cabinet are set to agree to upgrade the roof and install replacement boilers when they meet next week (July 22).

Major works to upgrade the roof will cost £496,500 as there are leaks in the original part of the Guildhall, notably in the Council Chamber, Mayors Shields Gallery and the Great Hall. The leak in the Mayors Shields Gallery became so bad that a tarpaulin is permanently in place over the glass atrium.

A roof condition survey has found that the leaks are causing ‘substantial damage to the historic fabric’ of the grade II listed building, which has prompted the cabinet to move to agree to appointing a contractor in time for the roof repair work to start in August.

The £496,500 figure includes repair work costing £316,500; design and project management fees of £30,000; contractor preliminaries costing £50,000; and a £70,000 fee for the cost of scaffolding. There is also a contingency of £30,000.

The council says that should the work not be carried out on their headquarters, there is ‘a risk that those attending meetings in the affected rooms could be at risk of illnesses associated with dampness such as fungal infections, bronchitis and asthma’. Most meetings however continue to be held virtually during the current coronavirus pandemic.

And it is not only leaky roofs that need addressing at the building, with the cabinet also set to agree to replace the building’s ageing boilers to the tune of £499,500.

The council states in a report that the boilers – which were installed in 1992 – are ‘obsolete’ and that £66,000 has been spent on emergency call outs and maintenance to keep them running over the last 24 months.

The cabinet is set to agree to repair pipework around the redundant boilers, which will require the need for asbestos removal, while the new boilers are set to be installed during the winter months whilst those already in place are still being used to heat the building.

The costs for the works include £110,000 on an asbestos survey and subsequent removal; £28,500 on repairs to the pipework; £216,000 on the boiler replacement work; £89,500 on upgrading the pipework; £7,500 on the relocation of the gas supply; and £30,000 on project management. There is a further £18,000 set aside as a contingency.

The borough estimates that a saving of £2,880 per year will be achieved on energy consumption as a result of replacing the boilers.