By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
The removal of asbestos and redundant district heating pipework from under the Guildhall will cost Nottingham City Council £140,000.
Asbestos, which was banned from use after 1999 due to health risks, must be removed from redundant plant rooms serving the Guildhall and Trinity House in Burton Street.
The plant rooms, once operated by Enviroenergy, had provided the Grade-II listed building with heating from the district heating network.
They have since been decommissioned and the city council, which recently brought Enviroenergy back under its full ownership, now has responsibility to remove the redundant pipework and asbestos.
Council documents say: “These works are considered to be essential to enable the Guildhall site to be disposed.
“Guildhall revenue costs are agreed to be funded from capital reserves to be replenished from the Guildhall receipt.”
The documents add money expected to be generated from the sale of the site is “significant”, and “any slippage in the sale” could affect the council’s Capital Programme/Debt Repayment.
The removal work will be done in two phases, with the first phase having already been completed.
The works will not impact the listed building, the council adds.
Plans to transform the historic building into a hotel and restaurant have been agreed in principle, pending final sale.
Around £120m is set to be invested in the building, with proposals for a spa and fine-dining restaurant.
The entire site encapsulates the former Central Police and Fire Station building.
Separate plans to demolish the building and build student accommodation hit a wall when it was given Grade-II listed status, less than a week before plans were due to go to Nottingham City Council’s planning committee for a decision.
A Historic England spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the former police headquarters and central fire station in Nottingham has been listed at Grade II by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England.
“Listing marks and celebrates this site’s special architectural and historic interest, and also brings it under the consideration of the planning system so it can be protected for the future.”
