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Exchange windows to be covered over safety fears

Guy HendersonLocal Democracy Reporting Service
News imageExeter City Council Both images show close-up views of damaged windows on the Corn Exchange building, highlighting the safety issues behind the council’s plans. In the first image, the corner of a window surround is visibly crumbling. A chunk of concrete has already broken away from the frame, exposing rough, pale inner material beneath the painted surface. The second image shows two adjoining windows with frosted glass inside pale blue frames. The concrete around the edges of the windows looks worn and cracked, with sections missing along the vertical join between the panes. Exeter City Council
Windows at the Corn Exchange in Exeter show signs of age

Plans are under way to cover parts of Exeter's Corn Exchange after safety fears that chunks of concrete could fall on people walking below.

Exeter City Council has applied to cover several windows on the busy Market Street and Guinea Street sides of the building, after checks found the ageing concrete around them is breaking down.

Under the plans, damaged concrete window surrounds would be sealed inside timber frames, finished with vinyl panels advertising the Corn Exchange and its events.

The Corn Exchange has hosted gigs, comedy nights and events for more than 60 years, despite its looks dividing opinion.

News imageGoogle The picture shows the exterior of the Corn Exchange building in Exeter, viewed from Market Street on a bright day. The building is a large, mid-20th Century brick structure with a flat roof and a mix of brickwork, concrete and glass. On the left is a taller section with long vertical rows of pale-coloured window panels running up the façade. To the right, the main frontage steps down towards the street, with several floors of windows.Google
The modernist structure of the Corn Exchange in Exeter

Architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner once dismissed it as "a rather tatty effort in a belated Festival of Britain spirit".

The current building opened in 1960 as St George's Hall, replacing the Lower Market, which first opened in 1836 and was later demolished after being badly damaged in German bombing during World War Two.

Designed by the city architect Harold Rowe, the modernist structure sits inside Exeter's central conservation area, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A report submitted with the application explains the aim of covering the windows is safety: "The proposal to encapsulate the windows in a timber frame is to prevent possible failing concrete from the window surrounds from injuring members of the public."

It added: "This proposal, we feel, would be preferable to boarding up the windows and leaving them unfinished. The unfinished ply board would give a feeling of dereliction and encourage further anti-social behaviour and break ins."

The Corn Exchange is set to continue to run a programme of live music and comedy throughout the year.

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