We asked local residents what they wanted from their local arts and entertainment venue and these are just some of the responses...
Petersfield Festival Hall for Panto Comedy Exhibitions Music Festivals Antique Fairs Live Bands Award Ceremonies Cinema Community Clubs Dance Shows Sports Screenings Kids Theatre Blood Donation Talks Wine Tasting Beer Festival Dinner & Dance Quiz Nights
Petersfield Festival Hall is the foremost performance and arts venue in the hinterland of the town having been constructed in the 1930’s to provide a home for the Petersfield Musical Festival who continue to use the Hall for its annual events. The last major refurbishment project on the building was undertaken in the 1980’s when the current Rose Room, foyer, back stage facilities and first floor offices were added to the existing building. The time is now appropriate to plan for and prepare the next major refurbishment in order to replace and renew the facilities that have become ‘tired’ as well as improve and enhance the facilities on offer to enable a better and more varied arts venue to be provided for the community that is better able to meet the needs of that community both now and moving forward into the foreseeable future.
The Petersfield Neighbourhood Plan highlighted the importance of the Hall as a community building with community feedback in preparation for the Plan stating that the whole building should be allocated for community use. This proposed refurbishment allows the Council to explore the potential to achieve this with the estimated cost of this work now being included within the scope of the project and predicted cost. Additionally, the Council is using the refurbishment project as a means of improving its carbon footprint by improving the energy efficiency of the building as part of the response to its Climate Emergency Strategy. The Council is pleased to announce that it has approved the cost of an Energy Survey on the Festival Hall at a cost of £9,400 as part of these considerations and is looking forward to working with the contractor, Quoda who will outline the range of ‘green’ options available to the Council as part of the refurbishment with their associated costs to allow further considerations to be made on the way to proceed.
The Council is proceeding with RIBA Stage 3 with its chosen architects, Foster Wilson. This stage of the refurbishment project will complete the Spatial Coordination Stage of the project leading towards seeking formal planning permission for the refurbishment works. This in turn will enable the Council to explore the availability of grants and sponsorship for the proposed work before determining the precise scope of the final project.
Further information can be found at https://www.petersfield-tc.gov.uk/projects/festival-hall/
I am looking forward to the next stage of this very exciting project when we will see the final plans and will then be able to go out and seek the funding which we will need for this new building while maintaining its character. It will give us very much improved facilities for our amateur groups and a completely new venue which will attract professional companies.
We are now moving to a key stage in the planning process for this major Town Council project. Towards the end of RIBA 3 there will be a further period of consultation and I encourage everyone to take part.
The decision to proceed with RIBA 3 is an exciting development since it brings the Town Council much closer to being able to apply for grants/sponsorship and, in turn, decide on the final scope of refurbishment. Although long overdue, this is fantastic news!
Hi
Good to see the plans for refurbishment of Festival Hall progressing.A friend of mine was in Stuttgart and he told me that the local Authority has a casino with profits hypothecated to reduce rates.Could this, or even Bingo etc, be an option?