Petition ‘bodes well’ for replacement for The Brunton<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n The theatre was initially shut more than two years ago after the discovery of RAAC\u00a0in the building, but some offices remained in use and the debate over its future continued for several months.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the time of its closure, it was estimated that the cost of refurbishment and RAAC remediation was \u00a342.912 million, with the cost to demolish and build a new facility estimated to be \u00a350.742 million.\n<\/p>\n
\n HES has launched a public consultation into whether the building should be listed.\n<\/p>\n
\n They said: \u201cThe building is a major example of post-war civic architecture in Scotland.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n However, Mr Reid told the meeting that a move to list The Brunton would put the council in an impossible situation.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cIf The Brunton is listed and we were unable to appeal, we would be required to reinstate it, which will cost us \u00a350 million, and that was the estimate a year ago.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThere is no funding available to do this and the cost to keep it mothballed would be considerable, as well as security for the building.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n A council spokesperson said after the meeting: \u201cThe council considers that, given the extent of the issues with the building, repairing it is financially unviable.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Therefore, although unintended, a listed designation would likely compromise our ability to progress an affordable solution to replace The Brunton.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIssuing the PIN\u00a0gives us the opportunity to explore\u00a0opportunities for a new arts facility and through offsetting cost against the commercial opportunity.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe PIN will outline the requirements as being to redevelop the site to include theatre and performance space, while redeveloping the remaining part of the site commercially to offset the cost of providing a theatre and performance space.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillors agreed to approve the PIN to test the market and establish a project team to oversee the future of the site, with assurances made that\u00a0community voices would be involved in proposals.\n<\/p>\n
\n Councillor Ruaridh Bennett, local ward member, said that the move demonstrated the council\u2019s commitment to continue the arts in the town.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cThis is an opportunity to be ambitious and develop something which will last a lot longer than The Brunton.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It has been encouraging to see the level of support from people all over East Lothian towards The Brunton and the support from this council.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The consultation by HES is ongoing and the council will be able to make its representation to it as part of the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brunton Hall\u00a0in Musselburgh\u00a0has been closed since October last year, after reinforced autoclaved aerated\u00a0concrete (RAAC)\u00a0was discovered in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-375717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115096729861173994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}