Indeed we did. Luckily damage was confined to an extension built onto the Hall almost 30 years ago and there was no significant damage to the Hall itself. At the time we publicly played down the impact of the fire as the media was reporting it as "having devastated QE College" - all very dramatic but hardly helpful. Even though the heat of the fire had been intense we had originally hoped we could repair and re-instate the damage done. As we progressed through the re-building work we realised the steel frame to the burnt building was warped and so much of the structure needed to be replaced.

The extension building that was destroyed was built onto the Hall almost 30 years ago. When planning permission was originally given the extension was described as garages on the ground floor and animal food storage on the first floor. As time went by planning permission was given to change the usage to administrative offices and then eventually for the College use.

However this extension was built at the start of our time on the Estate - a time when money was tight and building experience in short supply. The extension was thus created, quite legally, with chipboard and felt covered roofs, with Chinese slate tiles, with softwood windows, plywood floors and exposed steelwork. Basically the building was constructed a cheaply as possible and the mish-mash of the different bricks used hardly looked good. Following the fire the Estates insurers declared the extension a "write off" and paid out £2m. Much water had passed under the bridge since those early days and we were now able to do a mix of re-instatement and rebuilding truly worthy of the beautiful Hall. The footprint and overall style of the original extension is pretty much the same as it was but the huge difference is in the quality of workmanship used to create what stands today. We have called the re-instated / rebuilt extension, the Phoenix Centre, representing the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Today this extension proudly houses our College Music and Drama departments.

To give you some idea of how high quality the workmanship is, the cost for the work done amounted to £4m. Now there are proper roofs, proper Westmoreland slates as an exact match to the Hall. Exactly matching old reclaimed hand-made, hand-clamped bricks were sought and purchased to ensure the exterior looked as it should do. The floors, doors and windows are now made from solid oak as they are in the Hall. Stone was used around doorways and windows exactly as it is for the Hall. The extension now complies with modern building control requirements. There are full facilities so disabled people may access all areas. We used only highly experienced artisans on the brickwork, joinery and lead work. Nothing was rushed and the time was taken to ensure the highest possible workmanship was obtained. The finished extension has been praised by "Heritage" experts as being a first class example of what can be done.

We have heard concern expressed that in some way we have damaged and altered the Hall by what is there now, in place of the burnt out shell previously. We have not. There was always access to the Hall on the ground floor and the same access is used now. This access was there before even the original extension that burnt down was built. On the first floor access from the first floor of the extension to the first floor of the Hall was part of the original office use - it provided the only means of fire escape for staff from the rear portion of the offices. This access was put in decades ago. Our staff, our parents, our pupils and visitors are rightly proud of the Phoenix Centre. We even imported from Tuscany, long ivy to dress the exterior walls so the building would seamlessly integrate to the ivy clad walls of the Hall.