Yorkshire Day joy at Piece Hall reopening
August 1, 2017
For more than three-and-a-half years Halifax's historic Piece Hall had its doors closed for refurbishment and it took around £19m and Yorkshire Day to get them open again.Even now (August 1) adjoining projects as part of a wider £40m investment in the Piece Hall Quarter are not yet complete, including the new Central Library and Archive which incorporates the Square Church spire. Nearby, the Calderdale Industrial Museum, undergoing its own repair and renovation programme, is planning its grand opening on Saturday September 9.
But the Grade 1 listed Piece Hall, dating from 1779 and the only remaining cloth hall in the country is the centre of it all and it reopened again on Yorkshire Day.
The shopping units of the galleries have been refurbished, gone are the grass and cobbles of a previous refurbishment and, looking like granite from another planet, a pristine 21st century square has landed in the centre of the fine Yorkstone building of old. The scheme was designed to couple heritage with regeneration and it is easy to spot which is which.
It has provided a modern town square that Halifax probably needed and bolted on brand new apendages on the outside, particularly the Square Chapel Centre for the Arts.
The square was put to good use for the first time on Yorkshire Day with a free family celebration opening event.
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