County Hall is a municipal building at Aykley Heads in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England. It is the headquarters of Durham County Council.

History

In the first half of the 20th century Durham County Council was based at the Shire Hall in Old Elvet, Durham. After deciding the Shire Hall was inadequate for their needs, county leaders chose to procure a new county headquarters: the site selected had previously been open land forming part of the Aykley Heads Estate which centred around an 18th century mansion that had been built and occupied by the Dixon-Johnson family. Work on the new building began in 1960: it was designed by

Sir Basil Spence Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Modern ...

in the Brutalist style, was built by John Laing & Son at a cost of £2.75 million and was officially opened by the

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

on 14 October 1963. The design for the seven-storey building involved continuous bands of glazing with exposed concrete beams above and below: a large mosaic mural depicting local scenes was designed by Clayton and Gelson and installed on the face of the building. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber; a memorial to county council staff who had died in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s was recovered from the Shire Hall and installed outside the new council chamber. Works of art in the building included a painting, long and high, by

Norman Cornish Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English mining artist. Career Cornish was the last surviving member of the "Pitman's Academy" art school at the Spennymoor Settlement in County Durham in North East Engla ...

, depicting a miners' gala, which was located in the entrance hall. In March 2020, it was relocated to Bishop Auckland Town Hall.

Replacement

In March 2019, the County Council approved a proposal to move to a smaller new-build facility on the Sands car park at Freeman's Place in the centre of Durham. Of around 1,850 staff currently based in County Hall, 1,000 will be based at the new HQ and approximately 850 will relocate to four council office sites being developed across the county in

Crook Crook is another name for criminal. Crook or Crooks may also refer to: Places * Crook, County Durham, England, a town * Crook, Cumbria, England, village and civil parish * Crook Hill, Derbyshire, England * Crook, Colorado, United States, a ...

Meadowfield Meadowfield is a small village in County Durham, England, situated approximately two miles south-west of Durham on the A690. It is situated within the civil parish of Brandon and Byshottles. The village consists mainly of one road of terraced h ...

Seaham Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and c ...

and

Spennymoor Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham, England, Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers ...

. The building works, which are being carried out by

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

at a cost of £50 million, are scheduled to be completed in late 2021. Richard Holden, Conservative

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for North-West Durham, has described the new council headquarters as a 'vanity project', questioning the suitability of the location as well as tax increases and cuts to services used to pay for the development. The county council also announced plans to move the county archives from County Hall to a new history centre at

Mount Oswald Mount Oswald is a manor house in Durham, County Durham, England. The property, which is being developed for academic and residential use, is a Grade II listed building. History The manor house was built for John Richardby, a London merchant, in ...

. Once the moves have taken place, the Council plans to demolish County Hall as part of a masterplan for Aykley Heads to redevelop the wider site as a business park with supporting retail, financial and professional, food and drink, non-residential institutions, and assembly and leisure uses with associated landscaping, multi-storey and surface car parking.

References

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Durham, England D Government buildings completed in 1963