Fond farewell for council HQ ahead of demolition

For more than 60 years, County Hall has served as the home of Durham County Council. Ahead of its demolition, politicians and staff shared their memories of the big block on the hilltop.

Brutalist eyesore or brilliant architecture?

Whatever their thoughts on the artistic merits of Durham's County Hall, more than 100 ex-employees, councillors and members of the public felt moved enough at the prospect of its demise to attend an exhibition celebrating its history.

"It is the end of an era," says Helen Moss, who attended the display in the hall's large exhibition space with her longtime friend and colleague Sharon Dunning.

Both began working here when they were teenagers in the 1980s and spent decades navigating the oak and sapele-panelled meetings rooms and concrete corridors.

"It was freezing in the winter and in the summer it was like a greenhouse," Sharon says, while also recalling the "terrible" the car park.

Helen has mixed emotions about its demolition - sad to see it go, but also recognising "you have got to move with the times".

She met her husband Andrew through working at County Hall, one of many to find love behind the aluminium windows.

"A lot of people made a lot of friends here," says Helen.

The eight-storey high T-shaped County Hall at Aykley Heads has been Durham County Council's seat of power since 1963.

Sitting on a hill overlooking the old cathedral city, it was opened by Prince Philip on 14 October.

Planning for it began in the 1940s with a view to replacing Shire Hall, now a hotel, on Old Elvet, prior to which the 1888-founded council had operated from houses and offices across the county.

County Hall had all the mod cons, from the air-conditioned IT room with its single computer, used to process payroll and other admin, to ashtrays emblazoned with the council's logo scattered throughout the building.

There was a restaurant block, comprising a waitress-served dining room for the councillors and a canteen for staff, a hairdressers, bank branch and even a BBC radio studio.

Senior officers sat at green desks and chairs, middle managers were given blue desks, and clerical staff made do with plain wooden furniture.

Women were initially banned from wearing stilettos lest they damage the wooden floor.

At its peak some 1,800 people worked in the building

Sharon can remember the days when people smoked.

"You would open the door and there was just a sea of fog," she laughs

"It's hard to believe we used to work like that," she adds.

Sitting behind his large wooden desk, Robbie Roddis will be the last person to occupy the council's cavernous chairman's office above the building's main entrance.

The move to new headquarters has already begun, with 'do not pack' labels slapped on certain items and other objects organised into piles ready for the transition to the Rivergreen Centre, the council's new, smaller headquarters up the road.

The council is aiming to reuse as many items as it can, with more than 3,000 pieces repurposed so far, including 992 chairs, 357 desks, 60 coat racks and 24 fridges.

"Whether you are a fan of the 1960s architecture or not, there is no denying County Hall commands attention and always has done," the building's final chairman says.

"Buildings like this are more than just a building.

"The gravitas of the council chamber still grabs you."

Inside the 70ft (21m)-wide, 250-person capacity hexagonal chamber, the 28ft (8.5m)-high walls caked in walnut, a large crowd gathers for one last time to see speeches and watch a video about the building's history.

Speaking to the throng, Andrew Husband, who has led the authority since Reform took control in the 2025 election, says maintaining the building is no longer viable.

Its closure would be a "significant milestone" for the area, but redeploying staff to buildings across the county would mean they were "better placed" to serve people locally, he says.

Council chief executive John Hewitt first visited County Hall in 1992, when the canteen was the building's "heart and soul" and tea trolleys selling sausage rolls whizzed along the corridors.

Getting lost in its maze of corridors, offices and meetings room was also a rite of passage, he says.

"I can remember how big and bustling a place it was," he says, adding: "And who can forget that unique County Hall smell.

"I'm not sure you would want to bottle it, but it is unique!"

Like many of those in attendance, John's abiding memories will be of the people he met over the course of his working life.

"Despite their differences, people came here to work to make a positive different to lives in County Durham."

Amanda Hopgood, a councillor since 2005 and the authority's first female leader in 2021, said she was instantly struck by the "size and scale" of the building - and the sense of responsibility radiating from it.

"It was always friendly," she says. "You always came in and there was someone you knew.

"You do make friends for life."

But the building is beyond saving, she explains - riddled with asbestos and totally unfit for the modern world.

"Without doubt there will be sadness [when it is gone]," she says "but they can't take your memories away.

"The overarching thing I will have is lots of happy memories from being here."

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