A town’s theatre will stay closed for another year and needs an additional £10million in funding to redesign and rebuild large sections of it.

The Orchard Theatre in Dartford has been shut since September 2023 when it was found to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in its roof.

By December 2023, the council had built Orchard West, a temporary replacement structure where events could be hosted.

However, that project ended up costing £2.6 million – exceeding the original planned cost of £1.5m.

The roof on the original theatre has since been repaired and solar panels have been fitted however, in November, Dartford council and the venue’s operator Trafalgar Entertainment said they also had to upgrade the whole building’s fire safety systems to meet new rules post Grenfell.

It has since been discovered “significant further works” are required to meet modern regulations and current health and safety operating standards.

A major works update on the theatre is set to be discussed at a cabinet meeting next Thursday (February 20).

It is being recommended the theatre be given an additional £9.8m to bring the building up to scratch.

Another £1million would also be needed to keep the current temporary theatre going until the refurbished one reopens.

Currently, this is projected to be in May next year.

An additional £500,000 would also be allocated to Trafalgar Entertainments to ensure they can keep putting on events during this time.

Council leader Jeremy Kite (Con) says while the further delays are “disappointing”, the council is not prepared for Dartford to lose its theatre.

He told KentOnline: “The costs are what the costs are. We’ve certainly done our very best to minimise them and make sure we’re not wasting any money but it is a big building and it’s a complex one too.

“It is disappointing but on the other hand, these faults were buried in the building so there isn’t any getting around them.

“The truth is that when it was built there were a number of design elements that were put into it that are just not fit for purpose today.

“I think the decision to do it is the right one.

“We want to future-proof it as well because it's not just a repair, it’s a refurb to bring it up to modern standards for audiences and to make sure it’s accessible.

“It comes down to whether a town has a theatre or doesn’t, and we are I suspect going to make the decision next week that we do want one.”

He added that while it would cost another £1million to keep the temporary theatre running, the town would lose out on business if they shut it.

He explained: “The benefit of the theatre to the town was measured at nearly £5million a year.

“This includes what people spend while they’re there and businesses that depend on it.

“For us, although it is money that comes out of the taxpayer's pocket, if you let it close for a year you would lose all those benefits to the town.

“You’d also lose the staff and the audience would find alternatives so it might be difficult to get them back”.

He says the council was planning on refurbishing the building at some point, and that these problems would have arisen then anyway.

The cost to demolish and rebuild the site would cost around £30million, making the “redesign and rebuilding of large parts of the theatre and the services located within it” a more fiancially viable option.

Cllr Kite added: “It’s a bit like any old building really, what we found inside is that the work that needs doing is pretty extensive.

“As a town, it would be heartbreaking to lose the Orchard...”

“A lot of it has to do with the way the building was built, some of it has to do with the new regulations as well.

“It’s turning out to be a very expensive process because you’re effectively stripping a building from the outside and having to replace much more than we anticipated.

“You either do it or you don’t do it and if we don’t then we lose the Orchard Theatre forever – and that’s just not something we’re prepared to do.

“We’re not wasting any money, there’s no great extravagance going on inside it’s just a very complex and expensive thing to do.

“With culture, it’s very difficult and lots of councils do seem to be deciding that they can’t afford to have a theatre anymore and I think that’s really, really sad.

“If you were to ask people in Dartford what they want they’d say we need to keep the theatre.

“Yes it’s a lot of money but equally the theatre will then be ready for another 30 to 50 years of delivery.

“As a town, it would be heartbreaking to lose the Orchard”.