The clock tower at Watford's Town Hall is currently being improved as part of a project to renovate the historic building...
This is one of the many improvements that form the council’s 10-year Town Hall Quarter programme, which will transform the top of the town centre into a vibrant hub for people and businesses.
The improvement works involve several tasks, such as cleaning, preparing, and repainting all the metal and woodwork that has been painted before, and using colours that match the existing ones. Additionally, any old silicone seals or jointing compounds will be replaced with new ones. It is believed that the clock tower has a pineapple on it because it is thought that the Earls of Essex grew them in Cassiobury!
As part of the council’s key commitments towards carbon neutrality by 2030, other restoration work has also taken place at the Town Hall recently to make it more energy energy efficient.
This has included restoration of the windows, part of the original building fabric, which has meant the rate of heat transfer through the windows (U-value) is being decreased by 75%. This work also minimised material waste and produced a sustainable and historically faithful outcome for the Grade II listed buildings built in 1939.
Other works have included:
- Installation of 144 state-of-the-art photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof of the Town Hall and 36 on the Colosseum to harness renewable energy, reducing the reliance on traditional power sources. It is expected to save 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
- Replacing all the lights with light-emitting diode (LED) equivalents, as well as installing new roof and cavity wall insulation within Colosseum and Town Hall. Estimations show that this should save 166 tonne annual saving in carbon.
- 99% of waste on site being redirected away from landfill, as well as an estimated combined reduction of 50% on the gas bill and 32% reduction on electricity across both buildings.
All these improvements represent a crucial element of the council's ambitious 10-year Town Hall Quarter programme, which via eight interconnected projects aims to stimulate substantial investment in the area over the next decade.
Notably, the refurbed Colosseum will be re-opening next year with world-leading live entertainment company and new operator AEG Presents, and the Town Hall is being repurposed for future generations to include the Museum and a hub to support local community organisations, as well the creation of an innovation business hub.
