Broad Street closed this Sunday for routine high level surveys of Kirkwall Town Hall

Routine survey work is due to take place on the Kirkwall Town Hall this Sunday 9 March - weather permitting.

With a large crane on site and to enable the works to be carried out safely, Broad Street will be closed to traffic from around 6am until 5pm.

The Council’s Team Manager Heritage, Meredith Macbeth, will be present for the survey. She said: “This is a routine survey required for the good maintenance of an historic building and to help us plan for its upkeep, as well as carry out any urgent remedial work that might be required.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the road closure, which is short notice due to needing to work around good weather windows.”

Broad Street will still be open to pedestrians and the Cathedral’s Sunday services will go ahead as planned. 

The road closure will impact some public bus services (the No 9 Town Service and the No 4 Airport service) - passengers travelling to/from central Kirkwall are advised to head to Kirkwall Travel Centre.

The Kirkwall Town Hall was designed by local architect TS Peace in 1884. It features beautiful stained glass by Ballantine and Gardiner depicting Henry Sinclair Earl of Orkney, Kind James III and King Haakon IV of Norway (1890s.)

It was the seat of local government before moving to School Place in 1975. Renovations took place in 1984 for the centenary of the building and it today remains a lively community hub and venue. It is managed by Orkney Islands Council on behalf of the people of Orkney.