Haringey Civic Centre

Listed in 2018 and praised by English Heritage for its “Scandinavian influence, transparency and modernity”, Haringey Civic Centre was first opened as Wood Green Civic Centre in 1958 and comprised a public area and workspace for council officers and their departments, as well as a underground nuclear fall-out shelter, which was established in the basement. It became Haringey Civic Centre in 1965 with the formation of the enlarged London Borough of Haringey. Changes in structure saw many of the council officers and their departments moved to River Park House in 2005, but it wasn’t until 2017 that the civic centre was the subject of a consultation about regeneration options.

In late 2020, the local council’s Cabinet decided to invest in a major restoration and refurbishment project to bring the Civic Centre back into active use as its main democratic hub. Phase 1 of this multi-million pound redevelopment entailed a refurbishment to provide modern, open civic and community areas, as well as flexible new office space.

Given its status as a Grade II listed building, the council remained committed to ensuring the Civic Centre didn’t deteriorate further, and that it would be well maintained into the future. The Cabinet agreed funding of £24m towards this project from 2020/21 to 2024/5, subject to the council’s budget setting process.

The design brief ensured that all historically important features of the Civic Centre would be preserved and restored, whilst simultaneously thoroughly modernising the whole building. One of the key objectives was to ensure that the refurbished structure was as close as possible to a Zero Carbon Building, reflecting s the council’s commitment to tackling climate change.

The refurbished building is expected to be available for operational use in September 2024, providing a modern landmark Civic Centre that the whole borough can be proud of.

Working as principal contractor & principal designer, Decontaminate carried out all asbestos removal works within the scope and a full strip-out back to shell and core, generally throughout. This also involved the protection of large areas of heritage elements and other features. We were to ensure that all historically important features of the Civic Centre would be preserved and restored.

The usual constraints of working on a listed building, along with the retention of listed elements. The ceiling in the main auditorium was made of ACMs, which were to be replaced with like-for-like non-ACMS. This process called for close collaboration with planners and architects.