The new foyer

WORK is set to restart on the revamp of Camden Town Hall with the council predicting it will be ready to re-open in the autumn of 2022.

This week, new images of how the new foyer and facilities will look after the overhaul, which will see half of the building in Judd Street, King’s Cross, handed over to small businessess. The other half will be retained as a Camden’s civic floor with a new council chamber. There will be three new wedding suites.

How the Judd Street building will look

Tech, science and arts companies have already begun showing interest in renting space, the council claimed. Opposition councillors are due to question how tightly the scheme has stayed within budget so far.

But finance chief Labour councillor Richard Olszewski said it would be a building fit for “the 21st century and beyond”. He added that the project would be “self-financing” due to income from rented work spaces and hospitality events. “We have agreed that a Camden workforce will drive the refurbishment of the Town Hall. As part of the contract, all new construction jobs will be advertised exclusively to Camden residents first.”

Councillors were temporarily holding meetings at Crowndale Centre before the Covid outbreak. Meetings now take place online.

Archive photos show how they built the council’s HQ

AS Camden Council agreed to push ahead with its refurbishment of its King’s Cross headquarters this week, historians released archive photographs of its original construction. Work had begun in 1934 and the pictures show the original steelwork going up in Euston Road.

The pictures come from the archive of Albert J Thomas – the building’s architect. He also designed homes on the Torriano estate in Kentish Town. The shot above was taken during the laying of the Town Hall’s “foundation stone”.