Multi-million pound revamp planned for Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (From Wirral Globe)

Multi-million pound revamp planned for Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

9:29am Tuesday 11th September 2012 in News

PLANS are in place for a multi-million pound refurbishment of Liverpool’s historic Philharmonic Hall.

Work on the grade-two listed building’s £11.5m revamp is due to start in spring 2014, subject to the funding being secured.

When Liverpool City Council’s mayoral cabinet met on Thursday it agreed to endorse the project by agreeing a capital contribution of £2million.

The contribution will help Liverpool Philharmonic in its bid to find the remaining £9.5million of investment needed to refurbishment of the City Council-owned building, home of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and one of the UK’s premier arts and entertainment venues.

The City’s contribution is contingent on Liverpool Philharmonic successfully attracting this additional investment from a range of bodies including Arts Council England (ACE) and other, private funding.

Earlier this year, Liverpool Philharmonic secured seed funding of £634,000 from ACE to appoint architects Caruso St John to lead a design team in the first steps towards a major refurbishment of the 1939 venue.

It is hoped the work will be completed by 2015, the hall’s 175th anniversary.

Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Joe Anderson said: “Liverpool Philharmonic Hall is a jewel in the city’s cultural crown but is in need of significant refurbishment to bring it up to the standards that today’s audiences expect and deserve.

“The city council is delighted to be able to support Liverpool Philharmonic in its ambition to bring additional investment into the city and in return we will restructure the lease on the building.

“The overall aim is to secure the future of one of the city’s flagship cultural institutions and enable it to continue to operate from a much-loved venue.”

Michael Eakin, chief Executive of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic said: “In challenging economic times, we are grateful for the City’s support of our capital development ambitions for an iconic venue.

“It will help us lever very substantial match investment in to the City to maintain part of its historic built environment and enable Liverpool Philharmonic to continue to build on our successes of recent years, during which our artistic reputation has never been higher.”

Vasily Petrenko, chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra said: “Liverpool City Council’s support means that we can make a major step forward in our ambition to make our home fit for the 21st century for our musicians, visiting artists, audiences and supporters.”