Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

EXCLUSIVE: Competition will decide fate of Perth City Hall

Council leader Ian Miller at Perth City Hall.
Council leader Ian Miller at Perth City Hall.

Top designers from around the world will be invited to battle it out for the job of transforming Perth City Hall.

Council chiefs are poised to launch a competition to find an architect to lead the long-awaited redevelopment, ending more than a decade of uncertainty.

A similar contest was held to select the designer of Dundee’s V&A.

The landmark Perth building, which has stood empty since 2005, is being revived as part of a £36 million revamp of the city’s cultural offerings.

Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Miller announced in June that the building would be turned into a visual arts venue. The project is at the heart of Perth’s ambitious bid for City of Culture status.

Originally, it was proposed that the hall would become a new home for the Stone of Destiny. The Courier understands that the local authority is now considering housing the artefact at the city’s existing museum and art gallery as part of its “ancient roots” theme.

This will free-up the hall to become a new attraction for visual and modern arts with a “modern Scots” narrative.

The revamped venue is expected to attract 160,000 extra visitors each year.

Perth City Hall
Perth City Hall

A council spokeswoman said: “The development of city hall is a key element of the 2021 City of Culture bid.

“The ambition is to carry out an open design competition to attract innovative design concepts and to raise the profile of the project in the local community and beyond.”

She said the approach would result in a shortlist of two or three designers whose plans would be assessed by a panel.

As well as the council and the Culture Perth and Kinross team, the panel may also include representatives of the Royal Incorporation of Architects and Historic Environment Scotland, the body which previously blocked plans to demolish the building.

She added: “The main constructor contractor would also be involved, to provide advice on the affordability and the build-ability of proposed designs.”

The spokeswoman said councillors will be asked to formally back the competition approach on Wednesday.

It is favoured over the more traditional method of drawing up an in-house design before appointing a contractor.

“A design competition brings benefits of stimulating creative, innovative thinking about a transformed city hall and offers the opportunity for leading talent to present their proposals,” she said.

perthcityhallinside

Inside Perth City Hall.
Inside Perth City Hall.

Hubco (the East Centre Hub Initiative) is expected to appointed as “procurement vehicle” to work with the council on the competition process.

Meanwhile, a new building to hold some of the council’s vast arts collection could be built at an empty plot in Inveralmond South Business Park, off Auld Bond Road.

The council said that, due to the nature of the building — a large controlled environment store — a design competition was not required.