Peeling back the layers on the Our Manchester Town Hall restoration project has been a labour of love for hundreds of craftspeople involved in its restoration.
It has been a painstaking process to repair and restore the Grade I-listed building’s key features while making it fit for the 21 century and ensuring that it is future proofed for the next hundred years or more.
A series of Our Town Hall lectures has captured some of the incredible work to repair and restore the building’s bricks and mortar and other heritage elements. Behind-the-scenes stories have given a detailed look at the meticulous and intricate work, some of which may not be instantly obvious once the work is done, and the building reopens.
The films of these Heritage Lectures are now available online and – along with exhibitions and a series of podcasts – they will form a treasure trove of archive material that will tell so much about the restoration of this much-loved icon of a building.
The Our Town Hall Heritage lectures have been delivered by several of the trades involved. They shine a light on the behind-the-scenes work, reveal a lot about the techniques and tools being used, and form an important part of each contractor’s social contract with the city.
Councillor Garry Bridges, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council said:
“We want to be able to share the Our Town Hall journey with residents and visitors so that they understand some of the complexities and elements that will not be visible to the untrained eye when the work is complete, and the building reopens.“We’re preserving the heritage, not replacing or changing it, and this is what we are calling the ‘Invisible Story’ of the Our Town Hall project. It’s the painstaking attention and long-learnt skills that are conserving the historic parts of the building to safeguard it for future generations of Mancunians.”
The lectures capture for posterity the care, attention, and detail with which the crafts people have carried out the work and will be available to watch here. The podcasts are available here
To date lectures have been presented by:
Hirst Conservation about their work on internal paint finishes, including the fabulous Ford Madox Brown murals in the Great Hall.
The Mosaic Restoration Company about their work on the building’s many mosaic-tiled floors, including the famous Bees Landing.
The Cumbria Clock Company about how they’ve removed the clock from the building to give it a full MOT, testing and repair before re-installing it once building works to the tower are complete.
Recclesia and Shepley Engineering, two of our stained-glass contractors, spoke about their work on the 4,000+ windows that needed repairs and/or restoration.
Nicholson & Co, one of the two firms charged with removing, restoring, and repairing our magnificent Cavaille-Col organ before reinstating it into the Great Hall.
Caesar’s Conservation and Hatfields Conservation, two of the firms that have undertaken restoration and repair of the Town Hall’s furniture collection.
Purcell and Bullens Conservation, describing the restoration and repairs to the Albert Memorial in Albert Square.
Manchester Libraries Archives+ team have also attended each of the lectures. They have selected a range of relevant materials for each one, adding some historical context to the subject matter.