Newham Town Hall


Newham Town Hall is a municipal building in East Ham, London. It is a Grade II* listed building.

History

Construction and development

The building, which was designed by Henry Cheers and Joseph Smith in the Renaissance style and built by D.W. Barker, was officially opened by the philanthropist, John Passmore Edwards, on 5 February 1903. An extension to the south of the main building was completed in 1910 and a three-storey annex was built to the east on Barking Road in 1939.
It was established as the offices of East Ham Urban District and went on to become the headquarters of the Municipal Borough of East Ham in 1904 and of the County Borough of East Ham in 1915. It continued to be the local seat of government after the formation of the London Borough of Newham in 1965. Formal meetings of the council continue to take place in the town hall.

Newham Dockside

Although council meetings still take place in the town hall, most council departments are actually located at Newham Dockside. The building was designed by Aukett Swanke and developed by Development Securities, Standard Life Investments and the London Development Agency as part of a scheme to regenerate the Royal Albert Dock; it was built at a cost of £70 million and was completed in June 2004. The empty building was acquired by the council for £92 million and fitted out at a further cost of £19 million; the council relocated its departments, which had previously been dissipated around the borough, to Newham Dockside in 2010.