In a meeting of St Ives Town Council, members agreed to commission the design briefs, along with costings, for the Grade II listed building.
One will include the demolition and rebuilding of the rear of the building, which holds the kitchen, storage rooms, changing rooms and toilets, and the other will not.

Design engineers Penbrooke have been asked to do the work and send the results to the council within the next few weeks.
An extraordinary meeting of councillors will be called to decide which one to use.

Mayor of St Ives Cllr Ian Dobson said it was a significant step forward for the planned refurbishment of the community building as once a design has been chosen, funding can be agreed and work can begin.

He said: "The meeting was the first time the new council has discussed the Corn Exchange in detail and in depth, and I'm pleased to say the council decided to move forward very positively.

"The current designs are going to be very similar to the ones the previous council decided upon. However, the new council is going to implement some very detailed conditions, so we can be sure the Corn Exchange can be fit for purpose for the future and viable for community use.

"We are moving forward as quickly as we can, and it's weeks rather than months as we push every aspect of the project forward. It's very dynamic."
Once the plans have been agreed, they will go to a working group made up of councillors, users and members of campaigning group ACE (Action for the Corn Exchange) who will follow the project through to completion.

Member of ACE Paula Luter said: "We will favour knocking the rear of the building down and starting again, because it really is so difficult to use at the moment as it's all little bits of space. It would give the chance to design that part properly."