See our special multimedia report above, then read on for full details of our exclusive peek inside St George's Hall.

BEHIND the hoardings and scaffolding at Bradford’s historic St George’s Hall, contractors have been busy since moving on site last month.

A glimpse inside shows just how much has already been ripped out as part of Bradford Council’s £8.5m renovation and modernisation plans for the venue.

Through the main doors and the box office, partition walls and the bar itself have been taken out to reveal a wide open space. Mosaic tiling near the soon-to-be reinstated entrance on to Hall Ings is covered to preserve it, before being unveiled at a later date. Space for a lift has been created.

In the auditorium, for which consent has recently been granted to improve both sightlines and legroom, the protruding stage has been removed and the hundreds of seats have been pulled up and set aside, stacked by size, ready to be refurbished and set back in place, albeit with a different layout.

The scaffolding which already dominates the outside of the historical building, has higher to go. It needs to accommodate a temporary canopy to allow the full replacement of the Grade II listed building’s ageing roof. Contractors from Henry Boot will also begin work on restoring the sandstone exterior of the Lockwood and Mawson-designed building towards the end of the year.

Christophe Hamard, senior project manager at the Council, said the ground floor would be opened up with the bar moving from the centre to the side, making the space more open.

He said: “At the moment we are still at the stage where we are just demolishing everything - going back to scratch and the shell to make sure we can start again and put back in. The front of house across all three floors are being done.

"As a listed building we have to comply internally and externally. The conservation officer and Historic England are all involved to make sure everything is done as it should be.”

He added that the current project had a much broader scope than earlier refurbishment plans. Work is expected to be finished towards the end of next year, but as Adam Renton, general manager at Bradford Theatres, explained, they are hopeful of opening for the autumn, although some external work could still be ongoing at that stage.

Of the completion date, he said: “There are different dates around when the interior and exterior are going to be finished, so we won’t be opening with an almighty bang. It will be a soft opening because to book artists in you need to work six, seven months in advance, and it could be costly to have to cancel. I think we will look at opening in the autumn, which is the best time to open, but it might be that we open the downstairs bar area first. We have got a couple of artists that we have pencilled in that want to go on sale, but we can’t yet.”

RELATED STORIES

He admitted the refurbishment would not dramatically change the type of acts booked at the venue in the future. The seating changes result in a reduced capacity, but poor sight lines will be vastly improved, meaning they will be more likely to sell out and tickets can all command a premium. The project is being funded by the Council, which owns the building, and £1.5m is coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Council leader, Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, said: “St George’s Hall is a pre-eminent heritage building for Bradford district and this restoration will ensure that it will be brought up to standard as a top class venue for all our residents and visitors to enjoy for decades to come. No significant refurbishment work has been carried out on the building since 1983 so I am looking forward to seeing it restored to its former glory.”

"It is great to see work progressing on this beautiful building," added Cllr Sarah Ferriby, the Council's executive member for environment, sport and culture, said: "A refurbished St George's Hall will add to our cultural offer with other local businesses such as restaurants and hotels benefitting from a boost in visitors."