New images of the multi-million-pound conversion of Hoylake’s Victorian town hall into a new visitor destination have been revealed.

The Beacon Arts Village on the seaside town’s high street started on site in December 2019 and despite the current coronavirus situation, construction work has continued in line with national safety guidelines enabling the retention of jobs on the site, as well as keeping the project on track for an opening towards the end of 2020.

The latest pictures and video from inside and outside the 122-year-old building show how the development is coming together, with new elements alongside some of the building’s well-known or interesting historic features being revealed and restored.

The project is funded through a £3.64m grant from the government’s Coastal Communities Fund, which is designed to help seaside places flourish and strengthen their appeal as places to live, work and visit.

Wirral Globe:

As well as a two-screen cinema, The Beacon will feature a restaurant, a bar and a café bistro, and eventually 18 creative studio and retail spaces for artists and makers around a central courtyard, also shown in the video.

The 100-second video shows the exterior restoration of the brickwork, originally laid in 1898, and includes the restoration of the stone Fire Engine House sign.

Wirral Globe:

Exterior shots also show the Council District Offices sign, both in brick and in ornate carved sandstone, original and new roof slates, as well as original architectural features and the grand ventilation outlet for the roof.

Inside, brickwork and detailing that was once hidden behind plasterboard and render is once again revealed, as is original timber panelling and exposed timber and bolts.

Wirral Globe:

The work to give the building new use is shown too - new air conditioning and air extraction, for the food and beverage outlets, a new spiral staircase from the ground floor to the attic space and new plant decks and the sound-proofed walls for the cinema spaces alongside the original timber gallows brackets.

Wirral Globe:

David Burke, of Hylgar Properties, the project’s developers said: “Despite difficult times we are very pleased with the progress being made.  Once the work started and elements were revealed, it gave us a real sense of the building’s history.

“It’s wonderful to uncover the interesting gems from the past, whether that’s the internal pillars or the wooden panelling or the intricate brickwork. We are aware of the responsibility to achieve a sympathetic and top-class restoration of the building, while ensuring it is fit for purpose for its multiple new uses.

“We are also extremely pleased with the brick-worker’s amazing efforts in revitalising the brick, not only in restoring its beauty, but reclaiming unneeded bricks in certain areas to be used elsewhere in the project, particularly in creating a new opening which will serve the building for another 100 years!

Wirral Globe:

“This building will again be a very special asset for the area, and we can feel the excitement growing. It will boost confidence in the local economy and provide some certainty for the future and help the high street’s recovery as the pandemic abates.”

The project is creating more than 140 jobs during design, construction and operation and is scheduled to open towards the end of 2020.

Since 2012, the Coastal Communities Fund has invested £228 million into 395 projects UK-wide.