The £14m restoration of one of the North East’s most important mining heritage buildings is complete – and attention is now turning to its future.
More than 15,000 people have visited Redhills Miners Hall in Durham since it reopened as a centre for culture, education, events and community activity.
Now the Grade II* listed former headquarters of the Durham Miners Association (DMA) is inviting community groups and organisations to have their say on what comes next.
A two-day Redhills Assembly on October 2 and 3 will look at how the building can continue to serve the communities of the Durham Coalfield more than a century after it opened.
The restoration was backed by £9m from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and £5m from trade unions and the wider community. The DMA has gifted the building to the new Redhills charity.
Since reopening, Redhills has staged more than 300 events, including regular tours, film screenings, the Brass Bands England National Conference, Durham Brass Festival and a performance from musician Eliza Carthy.
A series of weekly Redhills Sundays has also been introduced, giving visitors the opportunity to explore the history, culture and values associated with the building and the wider Coalfield.
The building has been restored around the original vision, ‘the past we inherit, the future we build’, and the forthcoming Assembly will consider how that can be applied to its next chapter.
Andrew McIntyre, chief executive of Redhills, said: “Restoring Redhills was never simply about saving a remarkable building. The people who built this place believed that by organising together they could improve their lives, build institutions of their own and give their communities greater power over their future.
“Before the restoration began, people across the Coalfield told us they didn’t want Redhills to become a museum to a vanished industry. They wanted that inheritance put back to work.
“That is what this Assembly is about. We want to learn from what previous generations built, from the extraordinary work already happening in our communities today, and from people doing this work elsewhere and together, we want to ask what we can build now — how communities can rebuild their Common Wealth, and what part Redhills can play in making that possible.”
Helen Featherstone, director, England, North at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “It’s fantastic to see the transformation that has taken place at Redhills and that its doors are now open to the public. This impressive building can now continue to act as a space for the communities of Durham and beyond to celebrate and connect to the important mining heritage that is at the heart of the area.”
The Durham Miners Association was formed in 1869 and quickly outgrew its original Durham Miners’ Hall, which opened on North Road in Durham City in 1875.
The DMA bought the Redhills site in 1913 and the new hall and offices opened two years later.
Considered one of the world’s best examples of trade union architecture, at the heart of the building is the council chamber known as the Pitman’s Parliament where the miners were given a platform to voice their concerns and debate issues relating to their industry, with a seat for each of Durham’s 297 pits.
For more information on this week’s Assembly days and to register, visit the website.
