Demolition of Crawley town hall begins

Demolition work has finally started on the building, in The Boulevard, as part of a £150m regeneration of the town centre.

It’s been a long time coming. The original plan was to demolish the building in 2018. This was delayed until October last year and the site has been fenced off since then.

The borough council and development firm Westrock have appointed construction firm Kier – which has a base in Crawley – to build the new town hall on the Civic Hall site.

The nine-storey building will include 77,000 sq ft of office space as well as the 41,000 sq ft town hall.

Work should start in the spring and is scheduled to be finished in late 2021.

A public square will be created outside the new building.

Once the new town hall is open, the rest of the old building, including the landmark tower block, will be demolished to make way for the final phase of redevelopment.

This will see a ten-storey block of 182 flats built, with ground-floor commercial space, looking out onto the new public square.

Peter Lamb, leader of the council, said: “This is a hugely important step in this major project because this investment will save money for taxpayers and generate income for the council, which will help us maintain services. This is a very good deal for Crawley.”