Bolton Town Hall.

Bolton Town Hall was built between 1866 and 1873 and extended in the 1930’s. It is a
Grade-II* listed building. The cost of the building was expected to be between £70,000
and £80,000 but more than doubled to £167,000, which is equivalent to £14,910,000 (in
2020).
In the early 1930s, the town hall was extended and a crescent of civic buildings was built
to the rear on a new street to provide office space.

Structures Group received a phone call from Bolton Council asking for their help reinstating Bolton’s iconic cast iron elephants, after both councilors and residents of Bolton expressed they were keen to see the historic elephants given a new home.

The pair of elephants, whom had spent a number of years in storage, required a great deal of attention before packing their trunks and relocating above Bella Pizza (Octagon Court) to form part of the new play area being created by the council. The elephants – which collectively weigh more than a ton – needed to be situated high up and away from the play area itself so as not to cause any danger to youngsters.

The weight of the elephants required careful lifting. An excavator moved the figures on to a vehicle before they were transported to Structures Group’s yard for abrasive cleaning (using the TORC machine). Following the removal of the former paint, the
elephants were primed and repainted using epoxy paint to protect the figures from weathering.

Structures Group made a frame to span the roof of the elephant’s new location in order to take their weight. The elephants were resin anchored to this frame by crane in the night, ready to be unveiled the next day.