[4] However, the company that had developed the town hall got into financial difficulties and the council had to use temporary facilities for its meetings, before relocating to Hawthorn Lodge on the opposite side of the High Street.

[11] The central part of the building is a three-storey office block, with a concrete frame, and brick and stone cladding.

The three are connected by first- and second-floor corridors, while at ground floor level there is vehicular access to the rear car park.

Attached to the front of the building is a tall red-brick tower, rectangular at ground level, but octagonal in top two stages.

[12] However, the project won a Regional Award (East Anglia) from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1993,[1] and the architectural historian, Charles Jencks, described the design as a "superb example…of contextualism".