Assembly Rooms demolition may take more than a year

The demolition of the derelict Assembly Rooms in Derby may take more than a year to complete, a council has said.

An outline planning application was submitted in January to redevelop the venue and create a £100m "multi-purpose visitor destination" named DerbyMADE.

New details confirmed by Derby City Council indicate that if the planning application is approved in the coming weeks, work would start to "prepare" for demolition, which could take up to five months.

Demolition work and site investigations could begin after this, but could take around a year to complete, they added.

However, council leader Nadine Peatfield, said she is hoping for demolition to happen sooner.

"I am pushing hard for this to happen as soon as we possibly can," she said.

"I don't think we would be struggling to start demolition this year.

"You can see the timeline and how it could move depending on the other influences."

The council has previously said the summer of 2026 is a "target" for demolition to begin, subject to planning, with construction on the new project earmarked for early 2027.

The planning application is expected to be decided in the coming weeks.

The details of the new timeframe emerged after council leaders formally appointed Vinci UK Developments and Ion Developments to take on the project on Wednesday.

The proposed development could also include an office building named DerbyWORKS and a four-star hotel named DerbyHOTEL.

A report prepared for the Labour-run council's cabinet said the scheme could cost around £100m in total, 60% of which would be publicly funded.

Plans to revamp the Market Place have been discussed for years following a fire that resulted in the Assembly Rooms closing in 2014.

Peatfield said the project took a "significant" step forward this week.

"To get into contract is a huge part of releasing a planning condition to allow us to demolish [the Assembly Rooms], which could not be done without it", she said.

"But from this moment on, the decisions are now in the hands of the planning committee."

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