Page 27 - HeritageEbooklet

The Marble Hall today

By the end of the twentieth century, the Rolls-Royce factory on Nightingale
Road had become too small and the site was considered too expensive
to modernise. The company decided to move its operations to a new
purpose-built facility in Sinfin. In 2007, one hundred years after it was built,
the Rolls-Royce factory on Nightingale Road was closed. By 2014, the
former factory buildings at the site had been demolished, leaving only the
Grade II listed Commercial Block with its iconic ‘Marble Hall’. Subsequently,
Rolls-Royce sold this building to Derby City Council for one pound and
made a significant contribution of more than half a million pounds towards
its refurbishment, which was completed in 2016.
The principal contractor was Robert Woodhead, supported by architect
Derek Latham & Co. The heritage works transformed ‘Marble Hall’ into a
modern office environment, offering a superfast ‘Gigabyte’ broadband
connection with rooms to let for small businesses. In addition, a community
café with training kitchen is being operated by the YMCA Derbyshire and
there are also plans for a nursery provision from 2017. The refurbishment
project received multiple awards, including the Heritage Award at the 2016
Built Environment Hub Constructing Excellence Awards and Regeneration and
Restoration Project of the Year from 2016 East Midlands Property Dinner Limited.

The factory site behind the building has been cleared and earmarked for
residential development in the Local Plan. Dependent on viability and subject
to a successful planning application, the land will be decontaminated to
prepare it for development and it is hoped that around 350 new homes will
be built on the site by 2022.

The Marble Hall was officially reopened by
the Duke of Gloucester on 28 June 2016

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