Virtual Reality room included in refurbishment of Haworth Village Hall
The Village hall in the home town of the Bronte sisters could soon be expanded to include a virtual reality centre and overnight accommodation...
23/04/23 14:31pm
Ambitious plans to turn the “outdated” Haworth Village Hall into an improved community facility have this month been submitted to Bradford Council.
The proposals by the group which runs the hall will see the existing hall, a former schoolhouse, refurbished, with a new extension created to provide more flexible space.
A former caretakers office on the site of the hall will also be extended and converted into accommodation space if the plans are approved. More modern “ad hoc” extensions to the building would be demolished to make way for the plans.
One of the most striking additions to the hall included in the plans is a two storey virtual reality centre, which the application says “can be used by multiple external agencies such as universities, schools and entertainment business etc for a number of different uses.”
The planning application says the current layout of the building is holding it back from being the successful community hub it could be. It says: “Haworth Village Hall is currently a community and education facility. It is a busy and well used community centre but the building is old and whilst it is in its current state it is unable to meet the current and future community requirements.
“Our proposal aims to provide a flexible and adaptable variety of spaces for a number of different users in a secure and effective manner.”
“We are proposing to refurbish and extend the existing Village Hall and restore and extend the existing Caretakers House as an educational residential facility to support the Village Hall.
The existing hall is in poor condition and is unsuitable for many of the user groups. The building is very difficult to heat. The inflexible layout means that use of the building is often compromised. Limited funding meaning that maintaining the building remains a challenge.
There is currently nowhere for user groups to stay on a residential type excursion, limiting the offering that the community centre can provide. The on-site Caretakers House will be redeveloped to provide dormitories for visiting groups.