Alberton Civic Centre to be refurbished

ALBERTON – From August onwards, the Alberton Civic Centre hall will be closed to the public.

“Over the next 12 months the venue will assume a completely new look and be converted into council chambers to the tune of R90 million,” said Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality spokesperson Themba Gadebe.

The refurbishment will reportedly include external upgrades to the building elements, parking garages, access control and the guard house.

Once it is renovated the building will serve as the interim site for council while the current chambers in Germiston are upgraded. The renovations to the Germiston offices are in preparation for the merge of EMM with the Lesedi Local Municipality after the 2016 local government elections.

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In March the metro started renovating the Alberton Town Hall, in hopes of using the hall as the interim offices for council.

The Alberton Heritage Society led the opposition against the renovations and reported the matter to the Provincial Heritage Resource Agency Government (PHRAG).

The Heritage Society along with Klinkenberg Incorporated and Afriforum also brought the matter to court. Alterations to the Alberton Town Hall were subsequently halted.

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Construction to the Alberton Civic Centre will commence at the beginning of August and is expected to be finished by the end of August 2016.

The renovations will not affect the Customer Care Centre and the rates hall will still be fully operational for the duration of the upgrades.

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Patrons who had made bookings to utilise the hall have been notified of the work and a cancellation process has taken place. This included the reimbursement of booking fees which had already been paid and moving bookings to other venues where possible.

The EMM wishes to apologise for any inconvenience caused by the renovations.