Calderdale Council: Halifax Borough Market set to get a new look - here is what colour scheme council is going for

Calderdale Council has teamed up with Crown Paints to draw up several suitable options for redecorating the Grade II listed market hall.

The preferred option includes creams and greens.

The council has submitted a planning application seeking permission to make the changes to the market, which dates back to the Victorian era.

Changing the colour scheme needs listed building consent.

The full application – number 22/01149/LBC – can be viewed on the council website, including photographs of sample areas done out in the proposed new scheme, as well as some examples of existing, but not consistent, decoration.

A supporting heritage statement with the application says the market is architecturally a mixture of styles which blend well – but its decoration is also a mish-mash of colour schemes.

For example, in the north west quadrant there is currently a predominantly olive green and mustard yellow scheme with the remainder a combination of crimson, off white, scarlet, black, gold, very pale green, turquoise and pale blue, it says.

“Redecoration has been piecemeal and undertaken over a number of years which has resulted in an un-cohesive, polychromatic colour scheme that does not highlight and celebrate the fantastic historic structure enclosing the market interior,” says the statement.

Although in black and white, a photograph taken towards the end of the market’s original construction period suggests through tonal differences a more limited colour scheme.

The statement says: “Currently the existing colour scheme does not do anything to promote or show off the structure.

“The cast iron trusses are an off-white colour with the non-glazed areas of ceiling in a very pale blue/green colour.

“This results in the structure being lost in the pale background and the truss infill panels painted black, red and gold are indistinct.”

Scaffolding access required to undertake roofing works at the market will provide a unique opportunity to redecorate the whole, says the report.

Calderdale Council announced last year that it planned to spend £4.4 million on Halifax Borough Market to improve the building.

Roofing work is continuing there and tendering for upgraded wi-fi installation and the first blueprinted new stall has been completed.