First steps for grade II-listed Drapers’ Hall restoration

The first steps are being taken in the restoration of Coventry’s Grade II*-listed Drapers’ Hall.

Quantity surveyors Focus Consultants have been appointed to get started on the £5.5m project, due to be completed in time for the UK City of Culture 2021 celebrations for the region.

The building dates from 1832 and was once the headquarters of Coventry’s Worshipful Company of Drapers. It has been our of use for the past 20 years, but work is due to start later this year following extensive archaeological investigations at this sensitive site in the heart of the medieval city.
  
The development will include a new extension to the rear in the Regency style of the building.

It will be used as an education centre for young musicians and a venue for professional classical music.

The Historic Coventry Trust and The Prince’s Foundation are working on the redevelopment as part of the 7 for 70 projects announced to coincide with the Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday.

 “The restoration of Drapers’ Hall is a high-profile project, and Focus Consultants is delighted to be playing a part in giving this wonderful building a new lease of life,” said Sean Smith, senior quantity surveyor at Nottingham-based Focus Consultants. “This will be a sensitive and sympathetic restoration of an historic building – completed in time for Coventry’s City of Culture year in 2021. That it is one of The Prince’s Foundation’s 7 for 70 projects makes it even more special.”