Major upgrade work planned, with £7m set aside for health & safety repair work.
The Barbican Arts Centre in London is set to undergo a major upgrade to address a series of health & safety corners within the grade II-listed building.
A £10.1m package has been put together, part of the City of London’s capital budget for the next financial year, which will see a new restaurant, kitchen and event space installed in the complex.
A large portion of the budget, up to £7m, has been set aside for health and safety-related repair work. £5m of that has been earmarked for the Barbican Exhibition Halls and £2m assigned to areas designated as “confined and dangerous spaces”, largely consisting of areas off limits to the public where maintenance work is carried out.
A report highlighted that “poor and aged condition of the building fabric” of the Exhibition Halls was “a health and safety risk and a corporate reputation risk”. It went on to say that mechanical and electrical system work and building services installations would be part of the package.
It has been reported that the centre’s 1971-1982 construction pre-dates many of the existing health and safety regulations, making maintenence work in the building challenging.
The work is set to be carried out during 2020.
