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Newly published plans for Hereford’s Shire Hall set out the details of what the transformation of the grade II* listed classical building at the north end of St Owen Street will mean in practice.

  • The main courtroom in the building, unused since its ceiling collapsed in 2020, “is not intended to be used as a working courtroom”, a statement with the council’s application says.
  • The second courtroom, intended to function in future as the county coroner’s office, will also require “considerable” repair works to its historic ceiling.
    Windows and other damaged fixtures and fittings in both courtrooms will also be repaired, along with repairs to roof timbers and the external building fabric.

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  • What had been the Assembly Room, where county council meetings were held, will be refitted to house the new main city library, with its amphitheatre-style seating “repurposed as a feature seating area for library users with scatter cushions”.
  • The separate learning centre will meanwhile be housed in the building’s “undercroft” below. It will have flexible “banquette” seating with laptop tables, and a “community digital lounge” with public workstations.

Hereford's Shire Hall as it currently looksHereford's Shire Hall as it currently looks (Image: LDRS)

  • In order to remove “visual clutter” from the building, the “unsympathetic, poorly built” first-floor extension currently housing the county CCTV control room, a separate toilet extension, rear stair and ramp will all be demolished.

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  • To improve the building’s accessibility, a wheelchair ramp, in matching sandstone, at the main entrance and new disabled toilet will be installed, while there will also be a new fire escape from the library.
  • A new public entrance is planned to the learning centre via an existing doorway on the south side, which will have a new external canopy, of “traditional Victorian design” which will also protect cycle parking spaces.

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The work “will be phased over a number of years as funding is available”, the statement says, adding that the resulting building “will become a vibrant community hub, a place that is talked about and creates a buzz around the city”.

The council's planning application to itself (number 242506) can be commented on until November 8.

In June the council appointed international consultancy and construction firm Mace to take the project through to the handover stage, but said a separate appointee would fit out the library.