No public building so large had been erected in the town before. It has almost as large a footprint as the Temple Works flax mill in Holbeck (1840). Brodrick was also interested in bold new techniques. The roof of the Victoria Hall uses an innovative system of laminated wooden beams, held by wrought-iron bolts, with a span. This is thought to be the first example in wood, taken from the roof designs of Paxton's Crystal Palace and Lewis Cubitt's King's Cross train shed, both also constructed in the 1850s.