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Piece Hall patience needed
NOBODY said it was going to be easy.
And now it has been unveiled, the schedule for the proposed transformation of Halifax Piece Hall through an ambitious lottery-backed scheme makes the scale of the exercise abundantly clear.
A great deal of hard work and fortitude will be invoved. And a considerable amount of patience on the part of us, the public.
Now that our initial bid for 7 million of lottery funding has been submitted, on the face of it things will go a little quiet.
But we at the Courier are supporting the initiative with our Back the Bid campaign and will continue to keep you informed of progress every step of the way.
Detailed plans will continue to be developed and consultations with the public and different interest groups will go ahead.
Fund-raising will also begin – and will be vital. Because the 7 million we all hope will be provided by the lottery will need to be matched by a similar sum from elsewhere if this centrepiece and catalyst for Halifax's economic regeneration is to go ahead.
Yorkshire Foward, we feel sure, will never have a greater opportunity to demonstrate its commitment and usefulness to this sometimes-overlooked corner of the region.
The second and vital stage of the lottery bid will not come until September 2011. And it will not be until March 2012 that the tendering process and selection of architects will begin.
Then, if all the money is raised, the historic building would close in October 2012 for the work to start and not reopen until May 2014.
That seems an age when people excited by the scheme are anxious for it to go ahead as soon as possible.
But when it comes to big public schemes – and big public sums of money – things are bound to move at a certain pace, sadly.
We must not be impatient.
Just like another architectural gem further south, the Piece Hall was not built in a day. Nor will it be transformed in any meaningful way by any scheme that is chucked together and executed overnight.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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