Concert hall to stay closed until next April

Published on Sunday 8 June 2008 22:10

EDINBURGH'S flagship concert venue will be forced to remain closed for more than six months longer than expected because of problems with its multi-million-pound refurbishment.

Usher Hall has been ruled out from hosting major events until next spring, aside from a brief reopening for this summer's Edinburgh International Festival.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra had been forced out of the venue for its Edinburgh concerts this past season. No other events will be allowed to be staged there until April, when a national Rotarians convention worth 2 million to the city's economy is booked into the A-listed building, which dates back to 1914. The city council had been planning to accommodate a string of concerts at the hall this autumn, until several delays and hitches with the refurbishment project emerged over the past year.

Officials have already been forced to scale back the extent of the revamp, which will see a glass-fronted extension built on to the side of the venue and a number of new underground facilities created, in an effort to keep the 20 million budget in line.

Usher Hall has already been out of action since last year's Festival and although the council insisted that all shows booked in for this year's Festival will go ahead as planned, they have admitted the venue will resemble "a bit of a building site".

Plans for the second phase of a revamp costing 29 million in total were unveiled six years ago and involve major changes to the foyers, bars, toilets and catering facilities, as well as new cloakrooms and toilets.

New lifts and a major new stairwell are being installed while the extension will house a caf-bar, a new box office, extra corporate hospitality facilities and administration offices.