Opening Up The City Hall
I bumped into a Belfast councillor when I was strolling past the City Hall this lunchtime and we got chatting about the redevelopment work which is continuing there. Whilst asbestos is stripped out of the historic building, and other work is carried out, the politicians and council staff are around the corner at the Adelaide Exchange building.
They hope to move back in at the end of this year, when all the political functions should be reinstalled on the first floor. But a working group is studying whether council staff should be moved back into their City Hall offices, or if the building's ground floor should be opened up to the public.
It's early days but the ideas knocking around for the ground floor include a new art gallery and exhibition space or locating frontline services like building control there.
Has anyone any better ideas?
On the topic of the City Hall, the Big Wheel was due to come down at the end of March, but the company running it has asked for an extension until the end of the year. Councillors appear happy to approve this extension. Although the Wheel seems to have complemented the City Hall surprisingly well, there is some debate about moving it to another city centre location, probably Custom House Square.
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