King George’s Hall refurb costs soar to £13.5m

The soaring cost of repairing and refurbishing Blackburn’s King George’s Hall was inevitable if the job is to be done properly and once and for all the leader of the borough council has said.

Cllr Phil Riley spoke out as senior councillors approved a 50 per cent increase in the price of the work from £9 million to £13.5m.

As a result, other council projects in the town centre have had to be rescheduled or refinanced to pay for the overrun, with the £2.5m renovation of the nearby Tony’s Ballroom put on hold.

The huge rise in the cost of the upgrade to East Lancashire’s premier entertainment venue was revealed in a report to Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive board meeting on Thursday night which outlined serious additional problems discovered in the initial phases of the refurbishment.

Authority leader Cllr Riley said: “It would make absolutely no sense at all to stop halfway through and have to do it all again.”

He said repairing a 100-year-old building like KGH often threw up such increase citing the recently revealed £95m rise in the cost of revamping Manchester Town Hall.

He was backed by public health and former leisure boss Cllr Damian Talbot who said: “Now is the time to invest in this building.

“KGH is a huge asset to the borough.

“This is to guarantee the future proofing of the building.”

And he compared it to the problems facing Preston’s equivalent Guild Hall which despite being built in 1973 may now have to be demolished.

The additional £4.5m investment approved will allow for rewiring in the main Concert Hall and Windsor Suite, new high-spec lighting, replacements for the lifts, and pay for upgrades to Akbar’s restaurant, as well as new gas and water pipes.

Cllr Riley said the proposed new works will not delay KGH’s scheduled reopening in Autumn next year in time for the 2026 Pantomime and Christmas shows.

The scaffolding surrounding the landmark building will come down in the Spring.

Conservative growth spokesman Cllr Paul Marrow said the extra cost to ‘futureproof’ the jewel of Blackburn town centre was unfortunate but unavoidable.