ALBURY’S old town hall will soon have a new roof.
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The building’s brickwork, along with that on the neighbouring Burrows House, is also being carefully — and totally — refurbished.
“That means we’re not cutting corners in making sure the buildings can be of a high standard,” James Jenkins said.
“Not only will that marry two old buildings with a new building, that double-curved wall in the middle will ensure that it’s got a really unique architectural feature that makes it stand out.
“Hopefully it achieves the same sort of embracement from the community that the library museum has.”
Mr Jenkins said building contractor Zauner Construction had worked hard to make up time lost to unforeseen circumstances.
At the centre of that was the need for archeological work after the footings of an old telegraph office were uncovered.
This area had to be carefully excavated and recorded, as did two brick-lined tanks and a well that were also uncovered.
“Although we expected to get some archeological finds, I guess we got more than we expected,” Mr Jenkins said.
The main construction focus in the weeks ahead will be getting the ground floor of the new part of the gallery building laid before Christmas.
More frequent updates on the project’s progress are expected over coming months.
“We’ve still seeking the director’s appointment,” Mr Jenkins said.
The successful applicant would need special skills.
“Not only will it have nine galleries they have to manage, there will be a retail shop, a cafe lease and it will have workshop rooms and educational programs.
“This will require someone with a lot of experience in managing business, as well as being a key relationship person.”
Mr Jenkins said the council was already getting “a strong response” from the business community on how they would like to use the workshop rooms and boardroom