Almost £6m of urgent repair works needed to ‘deteriorating’ Grade I listed Wakefield County Hall
The move comes six years after the authority was told that part of the Grade I listed building “was at risk of collapse”
Last updated 12th Feb 2025
Wakefield Council looks set to spend almost £6m on urgent repair works to the city’s “deteriorating” historic County Hall building.
The move comes six years after the authority was told that parts of the Grade I listed building “was at risk of collapse” unless damage to its roof was not fixed quickly.
Despite the warning, work was not carried out “due to a combination of factors”, according to a report.
Senior councillors have been told the building “has continued to deteriorate” since 2019, when £.6.5m was set aside for “urgent and essential repairs”.
The former headquarters building, which dates back to 1898, used to host most of the council’s meetings and almost 500 of its staff.
The authority announced its temporary closure in 2022, blaming soaring energy costs required to heat the building.
Three years earlier, it was revealed that the whole of County Hall’s third floor had closed as a result of damp and the roof’s disrepair had become visibly obvious from several parts of the building.
Council employees also complained that the venue has become a “dark and dingy” place to work in an internal survey.
Meetings were moved out of the building for several weeks as a precaution at the start of 2018 after water leaks damaged some of the plasterwork.
The 2019 report said: “Over the last eight years, there have been a number of significant roof and patch repairs as an ongoing planned maintenance programme.
“It is now evident moving forward that the roof is at the end of its serviceable life and requires replacement for the most part.
“Over the last 24 months, there have been multiple significant roof leaks.
“This has been due to chronic roof fabric decay, which has formed over the decades. As a result, internal ceiling damage is prevalent.
“In (the worst) cases, this has caused collapse of masonry, plasterwork, and damage to electrical infrastructure.”
The report added that “doing nothing” would mean County Hall would deteriorate further.
It said: “Postponing works for future years will increase overall repair costs and cause additional damage to the fabric of the building and loss of heritage aspects.”
Planning permission for extensive repair works was approved in 2020 and was expected to take around two years to complete.
Engie, the council’s property partner at the time, described County Hall as a “building of exceptional interest and national importance” and said a “backlog of disrepair and defects” needed to be fixed.
A fresh report to cabinet members, to be discussed at a meeting on February 18, said: “No works progressed due to a combination of factors including the pandemic, resource and capacity on the capital programme and the end of the previous property and facilities management contract in October 2023.
“Since this time the condition of the building has continued to deteriorate with areas of water ingress on the third floor due to a combination of leaking roof areas, damaged windows, wind driven rain and rainwater goods needing upgrades.”
A full building condition survey was carried out in autumn 2024, which identified that a programme of works was now required over a ten-year period.
The work, costing £5.9m, includes a full replacement of flat roofs, leadwork, dome skylights and damaged glazing.
Cabinet members have been recommended to allow the sum to be put into the council’s capital programme to fund the work.
According to the report, a second phase of work would then be required.
It adds: “Any funding associated with these works will come forward as a separate project.”
County Hall was home to the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council from 1898 until 1974, when the new West Yorkshire County Council inherited the building.
Wakefield Council acquired it in 1987 after the County Council was abolished the previous year.
The building last underwent a major refurbishment in 1991, costing £3m.