County Hall is a municipal facility at Spetchley Road in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

. It is the headquarters of

Worcestershire County Council Worcestershire County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire in England. Its headquarters are at County Hall in Worcester, the county town. The council consists of 57 councillors and there is no over ...

History

For much of the 20th century the Shire Hall in Foregate Street was the meeting place of

. Following the amalgamation of Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire County Council to form Hereford and Worcester County Council in 1974, the new county leaders decided to procure a purpose-built county hall: the site they selected had been open land just south of Nunnery Wood. Construction of the new building began in 1974. It was designed by Robert Matthew Johnson-Marshall & Partners in the

Brutalist style Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

, built by the local contractor, Espley-Tyas, and was officially opened by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not pr ...

on 4 May 1978. The design for the building, which made extensive use of red brick, took the form of a series of interconnected pavilions. The central pavilion contained the public areas, meeting rooms and Riverside Café while the other pavilions accommodated the council officers, their departments and the council chamber. The landscaping included a lake, together with a waterfall, to the south west of the main building. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber: an exhibition space was subsequently established outside the council chamber at which local artists would display their work. The County Record Office was installed in a purpose-built annex to the north east of the main building in 1985, and, following the children's television series

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

, live

terrapin Terrapins are a group of several species of small turtle (order Testudines) living in freshwater, fresh or brackish water. Terrapins do not form a taxonomic unit and may not be closely related. Many belong to the families Geoemydidae and Emydid ...

s were released into the lake in the 1990s. The building became the home of

following the local boundary changes in 1998. The former

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

weather presenter

Wincey Willis Wincey Willis (born Florence Winsome Leighton; 8 August 1948 – 19 December 2024) was a British television and radio broadcaster who achieved national fame in the 1980s. She was perhaps best known for being part of the line up at TV-am, the UK's ...

visited County Hall to launch a scheme, organised by the British Trust Conservation Volunteers, to help unemployed people to return to work in March 2004, and, following the refurbishment of the council chamber, the

Duke of Kent Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, most recently as a royal dukedom for the fourth son of King George V. Since 1942, the title has been held by Prince Edwa ...

also visited County Hall and unveiled a plaque there on 19 February 2009. Works of art at County Hall include a painting by the rural landscape artist, David Bates, depicting a herd of cows crossing the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

, and a sculpture by Sandy O'Connor, depicting a

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

eating a fish, in the lake to the south west of the building. The building was closed in June 2024, after councillors were told that repairs to it would cost £36 million.

References

{{reflist W Buildings and structures in Worcestershire Government buildings completed in 1978 1978 establishments in England