Work to create a new £7.75 million museum and art gallery in St Albans is set to begin early next month.

Almost 90 per cent of the funding has now been secured to transform the Grade II listed town hall in the heart of the city into a major cultural attraction.

The asbestos discovered in one of the ground floor ceilings has now been removed, meaning excavation work to construct a 168m2 basement gallery can now start.

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Plans to transform the town hall into a 'major cultural attraction'

St Albans City and District councillor Annie Brewster, responsible for sport, leisure and heritage, said the conversion would take up to 18 months to complete.

“It is one of the biggest city centre construction projects we have had for many years. We are starting the work so we can open the museum and art gallery in the spring of 2018,” she said.   

“We do not want this to be a ‘just over the line’ project, so we still need to raise the final £700,000 to ensure the building is not only returned to its former glory but is also cleverly modernised to provide the quality the city and district deserves for a 21st century cultural hub.

“Official cultural grant funders, businesses and the public have already shown their overwhelming support and I am confident with such generosity we can reach our target.”

Contractors have agreed a construction plan with the project team from St Albans City and District Council.

Its aim is to keep disruption to pedestrians, motorists, shops, offices and the charter market to a minimum.

Artistic hoarding boards with sponsor’s logos and information about the new museum and art gallery will shortly be installed to separate the public from the site.

Throughout the duration of the work, the market will continue to operate, although a few stalls adjacent to the Town Hall will be relocated.

Construction deliveries will not be made on market days, Wednesday and Saturday.

One of the first construction tasks will be the digging out of a basement to form a new gallery.

While this work is undertaken, the footpath on the town hall side of Chequer Street will be closed along with the pedestrian crossing opposite estate agent Connells. The bus stop beside Putterills estate agent will also be suspended.

The public toilets at the town hall will be closed and people directed to ones by the Bricket Road and Drovers Way car parks.

St Albans Museums and Galleries Trust is leading efforts to raise the final amounts needed for the project with the museum due to open in 2018.