Council earmarks £5.3m for city venue demolition

The Assembly Rooms has stood empty since a fire in March 2014

More than £5m has been set aside to demolish a derelict venue in Derby city centre, it has been revealed.

The Assembly Rooms, which has been unused for 10 years following a fire, is due to be knocked down in "late autumn” this year.

Details of the predicted costs were revealed at a Derby City Council regeneration scrutiny board meeting along with an update on plans to transform the Market Place area, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

The Labour-led authority wants to create "a vibrant city centre with culture at its heart".

An artist's impression of how the site could look after it is redeveloped

Plans so far include a four-star hotel and office space but council officials say a business case is being drawn up on exactly what will replace the venue.

At Monday's meeting, Catherine Williams, the authority's head of regeneration, said an initial budget of £5.3m had been set aside for the demolition - £3.9m of which remains available following pre-demolition work.

She said the council was negotiating with a contractor and discussions so far were in budget, but no fixed costs had been agreed.

The costs of redeveloping the site after demolition have not yet been released, the LDRS said.

'Risk is mitigated'

Conservative councillor Matthew Holmes said he was worried the council could be "financially caught out” if the final demolition costs are more than expected.

He said: “The Assembly Rooms is a notorious building in terms of escalating costs. I am very worried about that.

"We need robust systems in place to be confident the costs are not going to escalate.”

Tammy Whitaker, the council’s director of city growth and vibrancy, said there was a difference between demolition costings and construction costs which can escalate.

"With demolition you are not finding materials, so that risk is mitigated," she said.

“All we can do at this stage is undertake as much survey work as we can to understand what state the building is in and what the programme of demolition will be.”

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