A fire broke out at Old County Hall in Truro last night (Sunday, January 12). Fire crews were called to the scene on Station Road at around 9pm.
They arrived to find smoke coming from the building. Firefighters used breathing apparatus and jets to extinguish the blaze on the ground floor.
Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said: “Critical Control received a 999 call at 21:04 informing them of smoke issuing from a disused building on Station Road in Truro. Two appliances were immediately mobilised from Truro and Tolvaddon, along with a flexi duty whole time officer for further support.
“On arrival, firefighters confirmed visible signs of smoke within the building and ‘made pumps 4’. As a result, a further two appliances from Tolvaddon and Falmouth were mobilised, along with another flexi duty whole time officer.
“Firefighters, wearing breathing apparatus, used hose reel jets and safety jets to extinguish the fire which was located on the ground floor.”
(Image: Tolvaddon Community Fire Station on Facebook)
Old County Hall remains empty
Old County Hall was the headquarters for Cornwall County Council between 1912 and 1966. Despite multiple attempts to sell the historic building over the last decade, it remains empty and derelict.
It was purchased by a local hotelier in 2012 with dreams of turning it into a boutique hotel and spa. However, the two-acre site has since been bought again and has been the subject of a number of planning applications and permissions, but still it lies dormant.
The latest estate agent to take it on is Miller Commercial, which is marketing the building for offers over £2.6m. The Grade II listed Old County Hall was previously on sale for £3m last summer through property consultants Alder King.
Plans were approved by Cornwall Council in August last year on behalf of applicant Peter Woods, of OCH Residential Truro Limited, to convert Old County Hall into student accommodation in 17 “cluster units”. The plans proposed that they would be offered to students under the management of Falmouth Exeter Plus (FXPlus), the organisation which manages and delivers services at Penryn, Falmouth and Truro campuses.
There would also be amenity space and parking for 18 cars. However, there has been no sign of any of this development happening since.