The first stage on the way to renovate a disused community asset in Hitchin starts this month with the removal of asbestos, a natural fibre that was widely used in construction until the late 1990s.
Following a survey in June 2022, licensed contractors will be removing the asbestos from Charnwood House from Tuesday 20 September. Asbestos can be found in any building built before 2000 and needs to be managed carefully in accordance with The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
Over the last couple of years, the council has consulted with the local community – including earlier this year inviting expressions of interest in running the facility – to bring the special building back into use. The overwhelming message was that residents want to see the Grade II Listed building sensitively refurbished into a community hub.
Councillor Keith Hoskins, Executive Member for Enterprise and Arts, said: “We are keen to see Charnwood House being used as a community asset again and to help facilitate its refurbishment, we have commissioned a licensed firm to remove the asbestos. This is an exciting step in the project, to create a safe framework for us to move forward and we will be keeping the local community up to date with our progress.”
Cllr Tom Plater, deputy Executive Member for Enterprise and Arts, added: “While bringing it back into use, we are keen to see the historic elements of Charnwood House retained so the refurbishment will be sensitive to the special character of the building, in keeping with its Grade II listed status.”
Charnwood House was donated to the council by a local family for community use and became Hitchin Museum. Since the museum relocated to Brand Street (next to Hitchin Town Hall) the building had been used to continue storing items of the museum’s collection. The building is now empty of storage.
From the public consultation, there were a huge number of suggestions and ideas put forward, varying from using the building for dance classes and community workshops, to hot-desking for local start-up businesses.
The asbestos clearance will take approximately three weeks, from 20 September to 12 October.
Keep up to date with what’s happening at Charnwood House on our social media channels.
Get the latest news by email
You can subscribe to get news and service updates by email. It's free, you can choose which topics you’re interested in and you can unsubscribe at any time.