The Piece Hall has been named the UK’s favourite place in a poll by The Building Centre to celebrate its 90th anniversary.
The charity, which showcases the best of the built environment, invited 90 leading figures from across Britain – from architects, engineers, planners and developers to actors, photographers, writers and artists – to select their favourite examples.
These were then put to a public vote where The Piece Hall emerged as number one!
CEO of The Piece Hall Charitable Trust Nicky Chance-Thompson DL said:
“The Piece Hall has been the pride of Calderdale for centuries, and I’m really pleased that so many other people share the same passion for it. It’s been Halifax’s best kept secret for too long as it’s an important and precious world heritage gem.
“We work incredibly hard to keep breathing life into this wonderful building, helping to preserve it and make it relevant for future generations, while making sure people enjoy it fully in the present.
“It’s such an honour to be voted the winner, especially with such strong and eclectic competition from across the UK. Myself, the Board, the team and our tenants are so grateful to everyone who voted for us.”
The 90 locations selected criss-crossed the UK and included sculpture parks, creatively re-used industrial buildings, brutalist architecture and some of the country’s most iconic and symbolic constructions.
Other places to make the top 10 included Jupiter Artland near Edinburgh, The Barbican in London, The Eden Project in Cornwall, The Angel of the North and Salts Mill in Saltaire.
Teresa Fry, co-ordinator and editor and the 90 years project and curator of the 90 years exhibition said:
“To celebrate 90 years of the Building Centre we invited a wide range of people to choose what, for them, represented the best of the built environment created in, or refurbished over, the past 90 years. We stressed that their choice should be something that really resonated with them, and not based solely on artistic or architectural merit.
“When we reached the 90 we threw it open to the general public to pick THEIR favourite, and the Piece Hall was overwhelmingly the number one choice. It’s clear from the comments that people left on our website that the public really care deeply about the Hall, and that it plays a vitally important role in Halifax. It also happens to be quite stunningly beautiful!”