THE refurbishment of St George’s Hall has yet to properly begin, a year after the venue closed for repairs, it can be revealed.

Fears are now growing that the re-opening date of one of Bradford’s architectural gems - already twice delayed - could have to be pushed back again.

The Grade II* listed theatre closed for a year-long refurbishment in March last year but owner Bradford Council is still in negotiations with its preferred contractor, it has been revealed.

One district councillor, former Lord Mayor Mike Gibbons, was so concerned about the seeming inaction at St George’s Hall that he quizzed Council bosses about it at the last Full Council meeting.

Cllr Gibbons (Con, Ilkley) said he was prompted to ask the question after going to the Yorkshire Brass Band championships last month, which are usually held in St George’s Hall but this year took place in Huddersfield.

He said: “There were a lot of questions from people about what would happen next year, and the concern was that it would still be closed next year and that the event, which is very prestigious for Bradford, would be lost for the future.”

He said he feared this could also happen with other shows and the uncertainty over the re-opening date could harm the venue’s ability to book big acts.

He said: “Many stars and performing acts need to be booked well in advance. It’s very difficult to book these and get them in a row, so to speak, when you can’t offer an opening date.”

The re-opening date was originally said to be early 2017, but this was later pushed back to late 2017, then again to early 2018.

The estimated cost of the project, which has been given a £1.5m Heritage Lottery grant, has also increased from £4m to £5.4m so far, with a further increase still understood to be possible.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Bradford Council, said the situation was “extremely worrying”.

She said delays would cost the taxpayer more money in lost revenue, adding: “They are focused on being a property developer in order to raise income, but they’re not doing it very well.”

In a written answer to Cllr Gibbons, Bradford Council chiefs said the tender process to find the main contractor had been completed and was now “subject to pre-contract discussions including a budget review”.

It said there were areas where the cost of the work was proving different to early estimates, so they were now carrying out a “detailed exploration” of the work required before they could “confirm the final cost of the project”.

It added that the work programme was set to take 54 weeks “and due to the extended length of contract negotiations, we have opened up discussions to reduce the time in order that the building can re-open quicker than this and in line with the current target of early 2018”.

Cllr Gibbons said he had been disappointed to see that so much still remained to be agreed, a year after the venue’s closure.

He said: “The general public would rightly expect that with an authority-owned building, the management would have these things sorted out before closing the place.”

A spokesman for Bradford Council said since St George’s Hall closed, they had done work “to understand the detailed requirements for the works” and undertaken a tender exercise to find a contractor.

He said: “A preferred contractor has been appointed, which is now in final negotiations on the detailed requirements.

“St George’s Hall is a historic building with a significant level of detail and complexity and therefore the need to consider the detail with a contractor is important before moving forward.”

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Labour’s portfolio holder for culture, said St George’s Hall was a “wonderful asset for this district” but as it was a historic building, it required detailed surveys and very specialist work.

She said: “Officers have completed the tender process for a main contractor and we are keen to see this progress accelerated so that we can restore this important part of Bradford’s cultural and architectural heritage.”

A spokesman for the Heritage Lottery Fund said they had set a completion date for the project, of September 2019.

He said: “However, we do appreciate that project timetables are subject to change, and so we are able to extend this, in discussion with the grantee.

“At present, the St George’s Hall project is in the tender process stage, and we don’t have any concerns with their progress thus far.”