In its heyday, St Albans Town Hall was the heart of the city’s legal and civic life. Rescued from dereliction, thanks to the support of residents, local businesses and lottery funding, this Grade II Listed building is once more a place to meet and enjoy leisure time. The rejuvenated Town Hall now houses exhibition spaces, a gift shop and café, where you can enjoy particularly scrumptious cakes. Whilst centrally placed within the building and preserved for posterity, lies an elegant octagonal courtroom together with its prerequisite bleak and chilling subterranean cells; providing a glimpse into the realities of the 19th century legal justice system.
During the latter half of the 20th century, the assembly rooms together with the court and its cells ceased to be used for their original purpose. Gradually over the decades, this beautiful Georgian building fell into disrepair. This degeneration became so entrenched that the task of retrieving it from total dereliction became greater with each preceding year.
However, it soon became evident that the people of St Albans had not fallen out of love with their crumbling Town Hall. In total, a princely sum of £400,000 was donated by residents of the city together with a further £1m donated by Trusts, businesses (including Selectaglaze) and prominent individuals.
John McAslan and Partners were entrusted with the refurbishment and adaptation of the Hall. From the start of the project, the windows were identified as an inherent weakness in the fabric of the original structure. The huge, elegant, original single glazed primary windows did not meet the security specifications required for the building’s new incarnation. To address these issues Selectaglaze was consulted at an early stage of the restoration process to design, manufacture and install a secondary glazing treatment which would both satisfy the Conservation Officer as well meet the required security level for the project, to protect the exhibits that the Museum would be showcasing.
The resulting secondary glazing installation ensured the building qualified for the Government indemnity insurance scheme. In addition, the treatment mitigates against sun bleaching of exhibits as the laminate glazing filters out 99% of UV light; whilst the well-sealed secondary units have raised the thermal and acoustic properties of the original windows, making the internal environment both peaceful and comfortable.
Great care was taken to ensure that the secondary glazing treatment design was sympathetic to the delicate Georgian properties of the building. The secondary glazing imparts 21st century properties to the window openings whilst blending seamlessly with their 19th century counterparts.
The restored, revitalised Town Hall was re-opened to the public on 8th June 2018. This beautiful transformation of an important building has revitalised the city centre whilst, preserving a valuable piece of architectural and civic history for future generations.
During the latter half of the 20th century, the assembly rooms together with the court and its cells ceased to be used for their original purpose. Gradually over the decades, this beautiful Georgian building fell into disrepair. This degeneration became so entrenched that the task of retrieving it from total dereliction became greater with each preceding year.
However, it soon became evident that the people of St Albans had not fallen out of love with their crumbling Town Hall. In total, a princely sum of £400,000 was donated by residents of the city together with a further £1m donated by Trusts, businesses (including Selectaglaze) and prominent individuals.
John McAslan and Partners were entrusted with the refurbishment and adaptation of the Hall. From the start of the project, the windows were identified as an inherent weakness in the fabric of the original structure. The huge, elegant, original single glazed primary windows did not meet the security specifications required for the building’s new incarnation. To address these issues Selectaglaze was consulted at an early stage of the restoration process to design, manufacture and install a secondary glazing treatment which would both satisfy the Conservation Officer as well meet the required security level for the project, to protect the exhibits that the Museum would be showcasing.
The resulting secondary glazing installation ensured the building qualified for the Government indemnity insurance scheme. In addition, the treatment mitigates against sun bleaching of exhibits as the laminate glazing filters out 99% of UV light; whilst the well-sealed secondary units have raised the thermal and acoustic properties of the original windows, making the internal environment both peaceful and comfortable.
Great care was taken to ensure that the secondary glazing treatment design was sympathetic to the delicate Georgian properties of the building. The secondary glazing imparts 21st century properties to the window openings whilst blending seamlessly with their 19th century counterparts.
The restored, revitalised Town Hall was re-opened to the public on 8th June 2018. This beautiful transformation of an important building has revitalised the city centre whilst, preserving a valuable piece of architectural and civic history for future generations. - Date
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