The £1.4m scheme, which has seen the Grade II* listed building transformed into office and retail space, has reached the final of the East Midlands Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards.

The project has been shortlisted in the categories for Best Change of Use of an Existing Building, Best Public Service or Educational Building, and Best Small Commercial Project.

Winners will be announced on Thursday 27 August 2020 although there will be no awards ceremony this year due to COVID-19 safety measures.

Cllr Stuart Richardson, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration and Growth, said: “This is wonderful news and well deserved.”

“The Old Town Hall has undergone an amazing transformation. The council architects have managed to achieve a wonderful blend of the old with the new on the interior of one of Mansfield’s most significant buildings.”

“We hope this will breathe new life into this historic jewel in Mansfield’s crown after laying unused and largely unusable for more than 30 years.”

“We were hoping to reopen it in the spring and then the coronavirus lockdown happened, so now we are hoping to open it just as soon as we possibly can.

“With the BT lines now installed, the final snagging and testing of the property is underway ahead of it being handed back to the council by the contractor.”

Old Mansfield Town Hall

The council’s Town Centre Management team is due to be relocated at the Old Town Hall from its current base in Clumber Street next month (August).

Refurbishments at the Old Town Hall began in November 2018 and the building work carried out by Rosslee Construction, was largely complete at the beginning of this year. It has included:

– Three retail units in a shared space on the ground floor.
– Two fully refurbished medium-sized offices on the first and second floor.
– Redeveloping two existing retail units at the side of the hall.
– Renovating the old Council Chamber on the first floor to make it available to hire for functions, business use or weddings.

There were no significant changes to the exterior of the building to preserve the historic character of the property.

The council contributed £775,000 towards the scheme with £700,000 delivered by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership as part of its £7.63m N2 Town Centres Programme.

D2N2 Chief Executive Sajeeda Rose said: “We at D2N2 are delighted to see the Old Town Hall scheme nominated for these awards.

“The scheme is a great example of a heritage asset being brought back into use and D2N2 is extremely pleased to have been a part of the transformation.”

The flagship scheme is a major strand in the council regeneration strategy for the town centre and it is hoped it will create up to 20 new employment opportunities.

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