Perth City Hall - Statement | Historic Environment Scotland

Historic Environment Scotland’s role

Historic Scotland has no current role concerning Perth City Hall.

Current position

Perth City Hall is listed category B. This denotes it being considered by Historic Scotland as a historic building of regional significance.

Following an unsuccessful marketing exercise, a listed building consent application for the demolition of Perth City Hall was lodged with Perth & Kinross Council on 17 February 2014. It was advertised for a statutory 21-day period which concluded on 14 March 2014.

(The application can be viewed on the council’s planning website by typing in the reference number: 14/00292/LBC; we were consulted at this pre-decision stage and our reply is at the bottom of this page.)

Meanwhile, on 14 May 2014, a separate application was approved by the Council for the building’s conversion to a hotel.

Because of this opportunity to find a viable re-use, Perth & Kinross Council decided to put on hold their application for demolition and instead to re-market Perth City Hall for a further six months. The closing date for offers was 16 January 2015.

On 26 June 2014 Perth & Kinross Council raised with us a concern – that should the present marketing exercise be unsuccessful the Council should not be locked into an ongoing cycle of re-marketing. Our reply of 10 July confirmed that we understood that concern. This exchange of correspondence is below:

Letter to Perth and Kinross Council from Historic Scotland 10 July 2014 [PDF, 36KB]

Letter to Historic Scotland from Perth and Kinross Council 26 June 2014 [PDF, 310KB]

Following the Council meeting of 1 July 2015 the Council approached us seeking a meeting at Chief Executive level. That meeting took place on 25 August. The outcome of the meeting is set out in our letter of 2 September 2015.

Letter to Perth & Kinross Council from Historic Scotland 2 September 2015 [PDF, 38KB]

Previous case history

This begins with a committee meeting on 16 November 2011 when Perth & Kinross Council expressed themselves minded to approve a listed building application for the demolition of Perth City Hall to create a public square. Planning authorities cannot grant themselves listed building consent, and as the building is owned by Perth & Kinross Council and the listed building application was made by them, it was referred to Historic Scotland to determine on behalf of Ministers. (Details associated with the former listed building application and planning application for the civic square are available on the Council’s website – ref 11/01083/LBC & 11/01082/FLL- http://planningapps.pkc.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=LNARXCMK00I00)

On 9 May 2012 we refused listed building consent. Our decision letter and report of handling are available below, along with the representations we had received.

On 11 December 2013, following an unsuccessful re-marketing exercise of the building (see the Council’s website, item 13, 11-December-2013), councillors voted for a second time to proceed with plans to demolish Perth City Hall to create a civic square in its place.

The building

Perth City Hall is a prominently-sited civic building beside the A-listed St John’s Kirk, and within Perth’s former market place. It was listed category B on 26 August 1977 and is within the Perth Central Conservation Area. It has been redundant since 2005.

The memorial stone was laid by Lord Provost Cuthbert in 1909 and the design exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1912. The architects, appointed after competition, were H. E. Clifford and Thomas Lunan. Clifford was one of a generation of Glasgow-based architects influenced by the architecture of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and this is reflected in the building’s architectural style. It has coupled giant Ionic columns and sculptural enrichments, while the interior has a galleried large main hall and a correspondingly classical character.

Previous Case Documents

Planning Application Summary - Demolition of City Hall and construction of a new City Square | Perth City Halls King Edward Street Perth PH1 5UG

Perth City Hall statement

Historic Environment Scotland’s role

Current position

Previous case history

The building

Related documents

Previous Case Documents

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