Plans To Renovate Hereford’s Shirehall Given The Green Light.

[Hereford Voice]

 

Approval has been given to transform Hereford’s Shirehall into a new community space including an innovative library and learning centre.

Planning permission and listed building consent was given full approval at the Planning and Regulatory Committee meeting held on Tuesday 28 January. It means that work can now begin on this exciting project to deliver a new, state-of-the art, community space and permanent home for Hereford’s Public Library.

The design for this modern and vibrant facility has been carefully considered to both complement and revitalise the rich heritage of the Shirehall, whilst delivering the wider and much-needed restoration of this key historic building.

The initial phases of work will focus on getting the building structurally sound, watertight and safe for public use while repairing and preserving the building’s important heritage features.

The main entrance will be transformed into a large, welcoming area with exhibition space and improvements will be made to provide greater accessibility. The work will also include complete replacement of heating, electrical and fire safety systems throughout the building, targeting a range of improvements in building efficiency, performance and running costs.

The Assembly Hall will provide the new home for the library and will offer readers plenty of space to relax, read or browse the collection and to join a wide variety of organised library events. Meeting rooms and flexible spaces for events and community activities will also be developed, offering plenty of opportunities for everyone to get involved.

A new learning centre will offer much improved facilities and services for learning, digital literacy, cultural activity and wellbeing.

The plans have been developed and refined over many months through workshops, consultations and surveys. Public feedback from a consultation undertaken at the end of last year is being analysed and will also inform the design of the new library to ensure best fit to users’ needs.

Councillor Harry Bramer, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Assets, said:

Our plans outline how we will transform the Shirehall into a modern community space and library and learning centre while retaining important heritage features. It’s really great news that approval has been given by Planning Committee.

Our plans for the new library are ambitious and exciting and will offer Herefordshire residents all that they would expect from their library – and much more. For example, there will be a fabulous programme of featured events on the Assembly Hall stage, a sensory room and a ‘makerspace’ with equipment for hire where people will be able to share their knowledge and ideas to work collaboratively on all sorts of projects.

It’s still early days and we have a lot of work to do until the library opens to the public in the autumn of 2026. But this is a great first step and we look forward to sharing developments as we progress.

In the meantime, library services will continue to be available from Hereford Town Hall. We are pleased that three times as many people are visiting this location than when it was based at Friar Street. This indicates that the new permanent location at Shirehall will be convenient for library users.

The development of the Library and Learning Centre is supported by £2.6Million from Hereford’s Stronger Towns funding.