WORK to reconfigure Kendal Town Hall has been completed.

The refurbishment of the historic building has included moving the main South Lakeland District Council reception area to the front of the town hall, and the opening of more spaces inside the town hall for use by community organisations.

The Westmorland Gazette:

It marks the first phase of a £4.9million project to improve the efficiency of the council’s main accommodation in Kendal as part of the authority’s Customer Connect transformation programme, which aims to save over £8million pounds over ten years by restructuring the entire organisation.

The second stage involves work to remodel the offices in South Lakeland House, to make available half the office space to let to other organisations and the creation of a ‘Mintworks two’; a new enterprise centre for start-up businesses, to build on the success of the council-run Mintworks hub on Highgate.

The transformed town hall will open its doors to the public for the first time tomorrow (25 May).

And existing users of the meeting rooms will be welcomed back from June 21, in line with the Government’s roadmap for easing Covid-19 restrictions.

Enquiries from new community users about the meeting spaces have started flooding in, including from Women’s Community Matters which will be based in the town hall two days a week.

The Westmorland Gazette:

The council has also received several enquiries about using the town hall for events including weddings and a gin festival.

New leader of SLDC, Councillor Jonathan Brook, said: “The opening up of the new-look town hall is a real milestone for our Customer Connect programme.

“Moving the main reception areas for the public to the front of the town hall will make visiting the council much more accessible and user-friendly, especially improving disabled access, and puts the council at the heart of the high street, rather than tucked away and accessed down a narrow yard.

 “The additional meeting spaces that have been created mean the town hall can be better used by community groups and for events, safeguarding its role as an important community building.

“With the work to the town hall and South Lakeland House we wanted to ensure that anything we did would be cost-effective for the taxpayer, make the very best use of the buildings, safeguard the future of the town hall as a civic and community facility and make life easier for our customers.

“We believe that this scheme delivers on all those points.”

The Westmorland Gazette:

 Councillor Andrew Jarvis, SLDC’s deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance and assets, said: “The full scheme for the town hall and South Lakeland House offices is costing £4.9m, which will be more than fully repaid through the benefits of having a more efficient building, reduced costs and additional income from letting out surplus office space.

“This will give ongoing savings for the council from year one.”