'Colossal' Leeds Town Hall organ restoration project begins

The exterior pipes on the Leeds Town Hall organ will be taken down and redecorated

Work has begun to painstakingly dismantle and repair one of the largest pipe organs in Europe as part of a £1.8m restoration project.

Engineers will spend the coming months carefully disassembling the 50ft-high (15m) instrument at Leeds Town Hall.

About 4,000 pipes will be individually removed from the 70-tonne organ before being taken to be cleaned and repaired.

James Atherton, from pipe organ builder Nicholson & Co, said it was "a colossal amount of work for a colossal organ".

A complex network of of scaffolding has been erected around the 50ft-high (15m) instrument

Originally built by Gray and Davison of London to designs by William Spark and Henry Smart in 1853, the decades have begun to take their toll on the organ, which was last serviced about 50 years ago.

The refurbishment project will see much of the instrument's ageing mechanism, including the soundboards, wind supply and console replaced, with the aim of giving it "a fuller and more integrated sound".

It is hoped it will be ready to be played again in late 2023.

The organ is believed to be one of the biggest in Europe

Many of the pipes are too big to take off site and will need to be repaired at the town hall

Mr Atherton, who is responsible for giving the instrument its "new voice", said the age of the instrument coupled with the accumulation of dirt meant it did not sound at its best.

"You can imagine if you didn't vacuum your house for 50 years, there'd be an awful lot of dirt and dust, and with the organ it's got choked up in the pipes so they're not able to sing properly," he said.

Reflecting on the scale of the job, he said the "monster size" of the instrument, which is 47ft-wide (14m), meant the work was not without its potential pitfalls.

One of the most taxing aspects of the project, he said, was the removal of the 32ft-high (10m) pipes adorning the front of the organ, which need to be taken down and redecorated.

Important heritage aspects will be preserved

Mr Atherton said: "We'll have to support them in several stages by gently lifting them out and trying to get them horizontal and down on to the floor.

"It will be a lot of hard work and a bit of a wing and a prayer."

The organ's decorative big wheel will be redecorated in situ

The refurbishment of the Grade 1 listed organ, which was played at the town hall's opening in 1858, has been years in the planning with specialists spending several months working out the physical layout.

Mr Atherton said it was the biggest project of its kind worked on in the country for a significant amount of time.

"It's a colossal amount of work for a colossal organ," he said.

"It is a huge privilege to be working on such an historic instrument and the organ we're building will be here for generations to come."

Leeds City Council will pay for the organ's refurbishment, but it is hoped the money can be recouped via a fundraising campaign.