Trafford Town Hall

Trafford Town Hall
5plus Architects for Trafford Borough Council
Contract £17.3m. GIA 12,200m²

Grade II-listed Stretford Town Hall, built in 1933, was steel-framed with a skin of Flemish bonded brick. The building had a municipal robustness typical of the time, and was interestingly extended in the 1980s to become Trafford Town Hall complete with a subterranean nuclear fallout shelter. Both were demolished when 5plus Architects extended and refurbished the original.  Its contemporary yet respectful addition, claim the judges, ‘exhibits a high standard of design and quality to rival the listed town hall’. A landscaped courtyard links old and new elements, faced by a new internal street that acts as a double-height circulation zone for the new extension. This – well-lit, naturally ventilated and with a BREEAM Excellent rating that also covers the original town hall – is, said the judges, ‘testament to the highly sustainable strategy created across the site’.