County Hall, Cwmbran

County Hall (Welsh: Neuadd y Sir Cwmbrân) was a municipal facility on Turnpike Road in Croesyceiliog in Cwmbran in Wales. It was the headquarters of Gwent County Council from 1978 to 1996 and of Monmouthshire County Council from 1996 to 2013.

County Hall, Cwmbran
County Hall
County Hall
Location within Torfaen
General information
AddressCroesyceiliog, Cwmbran
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51.6541°N 3.0013°W / 51.6541; -3.0013
Completed1978
Demolished2013
Design and construction
ArchitectRobert Matthew Johnson Marshall

History

For much of the 20th century Monmouthshire County Council had held its meetings in the Shire Hall in Newport.[1] After finding that the Shire Hall facilities were too cramped, county leaders decided to procure modern facilities: the site they selected was open land to the east of Turnpike Road in Croesyceiliog.[2]

Construction of the new building started in 1969.[3] Following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, the new building was destined to become the home of Gwent County Council.[3] It was designed by Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall, built at a cost of £9 million[4] and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 19 April 1978.[5][6][7] The design for the seven-storey building involved a two winged structure; each of the wings featured continuous bands of glazing with concrete panels above and below; there was a separate low-rise structure containing the council chamber and there was a bunker in the basement for the use of county leaders in the case of a nuclear attack.[8]

On 1 April 1996, under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, Gwent was abolished and the building was acquired by the newly formed Monmouthshire County Council.[9] However, after the building was found to have concrete cancer, and the potential rectification work required was estimated at £30 million, the county council decided it had no further use for the building.[9]

After the county council had moved to smaller offices at Usk in May 2013,[lower-alpha 1] County Hall in Cwmbran was demolished[12][13] and the cleared site was sold to Kier Group for a residential development involving 140 new houses.[14][15]

Notes
  1. The new offices at Rhadyr near Usk were built by Willmott Dixon at a cost of £8 million.[10][11]

References
  1. Cadw. "Shire Hall, Newport (including Queen's Chambers) (20528)". National Historic Assets of Wales. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  2. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1972. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  3. Newman, John (2000). Gwent/Monmouthshire. Yale University Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0300096309.
  4. Holland, Edward; Holder, Julian (1 March 2019). "Advice to inform post-war listing in Wales" (PDF). Holland Heritage. p. 57. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  5. Hopkins, Tony (2019). "William (Bill) Henry Baker (1920–2019), Archives and Records, 40:2": 235-237. doi:10.1080/23257962.2019.1604330. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. "History and Biography of Aubrey Hames". Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. "Gwent County Hall, official opening, record". Gwent Archives. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  8. "Nuclear bunker under Cwmbran County Hall knocks £675,000 off value". South Wales Argus. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. "Cwmbran County Hall demolition may need hole filling". BBC. 27 October 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  10. "Council's new Usk HQ almost ready". Monmouthshire Beacon. 3 April 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. "Work starts Monmouthshire's £8m county hall in Usk". Free Press. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. "Demolition of Cwmbran's County Hall continues". South Wales Argus. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  13. "Demolition of County Hall, Monmouthshire and Torfaen councils' ex-home, could save cash". South Wales Argus. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  14. Niall Griffiths (20 August 2019). "Old Gwent County Council headquarters site in Croesyceiliog to get almost 150 new homes". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  15. "140 home scheme for former county hall site gets approval". Insider Media. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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