NEW HOME FOR CITY COUNCIL

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The council has commissioned a report to determine if new premises could be built in the Becket Well area, St Mary's Gate, Friar Gate, Darwin Place or Stores Road. Property consultant Donaldsons has recommended the authority move into a purpose-built building. Currently, 1,460 city council employees are based at the Council House, in Corporation Street, Middleton House, in St Mary's Gate, Roman House, in Friar Gate, and Celtic House and Saxon House in Friary Street.

The report stated that a new building would cost £34m, although that did not include the cost of buying a site. The council is looking at five locations, four of which are earmarked for development by Derby Cityscape, the organisation in charge of delivering a £275m blueprint for the city's regeneration.

Options include demolishing buildings in the run-down Becket Well area, which runs from Duckworth Square to Green Lane, and developing Prince's supermarket site near St Mary's Gate and building a new complex connected to the authority's existing Middleton House premises, but retaining the Grade II-listed frontage.

Another option is to build new offices in the former Friar Gate Station area, and retain the Grade II-listed warehouse and former engine house. The remaining two possibilities are to build premises on the council-owned Darwin Place car park or renovate a council depot in Stores Road. Under Cityscape, there are already plans to turn Duckworth Square into a new bar and restaurant complex and proposals to build 600 new homes on the former Friar Gate Station site.

Derby's Council House will not be bulldozed if the authority's employees move into a new building in the city centre. However, Philip Hickson, deputy leader of the city council, said that the Council House, which is valued at £5m, could be sold to a developer to convert into flats. His comments were made in the light of a newly-published report into the state of the council's current accommodation. The report, by Leeds-based consultants Donaldsons, recommends that the authority move its 1,460 employees from the Council House, Middleton House in St Mary's Gate, Roman House in Friar Gate, and Celtic House and Saxon House in Friary Street, to a purpose-built structure in the city centre.

The report estimates that building and fitting out a new building to house all council employees would cost £34m. This figure does not include the cost of the new site. The council could make £9.3m from selling the Council House, Middleton House and Roman House, meaning that it would need £24.7m. The annual running costs of the new building would be £1.7m. Council employees are also based at Celtic House and Saxon House which it leases. If the council was to remain in its current accommodation, the report says that it would need £9.5m to bring its buildings up to standard and the annual running costs would be £1.9m. The report then quotes a separate figure based on a complicated mathematical equation which takes into account anticipated figures for depreciation and inflation.

According to this figure, if the council was to stay in its current buildings and upgrade them, it would cost the authority £37.3m over 25 years, whereas moving would cost £41.5m. Even though the difference between these figures is not massive, the report says that it would be better for the council to move because it cannot do its job properly in the current buildings, which are in a poor state of repair. The report says: "The best value for money would be achieved through more ambitious options, seeking to relocate the majority of headquarters' staff in more modern accommodation around a single location, ideally in the city centre."

The report also says that a possible way of funding a new building would be through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). A PFI involves a private developer building the project and leasing it back to the authority involved for an annual fee for a set period of time. Mr Hickson said, "The Council House does not allow us to provide as good a service as people expect, and we often have to send them to other parts of the city to get their council business done when it should all be in one place." Maurice Burgess, leader of the council, said, "This is a challenge and we look forward to it. Now is the time to see if an opportunity to move elsewhere exists."

The final draft of the Donaldsons report has outlined seven options:

Option 1: Keep all the council's accommodation, where 1,460 staff work, and spend £9.5m on repairs and bringing the buildings in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Maintenance costs would be £1.9m a year.

Option 2: The 558 staff at the Council House move into a new property in the city centre, costing £13.8m to build and £1.8m every year to run. Sell the Council House for £5m.

Option 3: Move 410 employees out of Middleton House in St Mary's Gate into a new £9.5m building. Middleton House could be sold for £1.9m, with £2m spent on annual running costs.

Option 4: Move 261 staff out of Celtic House and Saxon House. Both Friary Street offices are leased by the council. Move staff into a new £14.4m building, which would cost £1.9m a year to run.

Option 5: Move out of the Council House and Middleton House and into a new £25.6m building. Selling the sites would raise £6.9m. The new building would cost £1.9m a year to run.

Option 6: Move out of the Council House, Middleton House, Celtic House, Roman House and Saxon House and into a £34m building. Selling all council properties would raise £9.3m, and the new building would cost £1.7m a year to run.

Option 7: Move out of all the city centre properties and into a new building away from the city centre, but have a customer service centre in the city centre. The cost of the new building is estimated at £33m. A total of £9.3m would be raised from the sale of properties. The building would cost £1.7m a year.

The Council House is in line for a £20m facelift if councillors agree to plans for a major refurbishment. The city council had considered moving to a new site, but the most recent plans opt for a revamp of the existing facilities on Corporation Street. The plan would reduce the total amount of space used by council staff by improving the layout and "ways of working". The existing council offices are "in poor condition and unsuitable for modern working", a report prepared for the council said.

The refurbishment would also help tackle climate change by improving insulation, heating and electrical installations including controls, using green technologies, the report said. The authority said the council house's heating system is in poor condition and its electrical system and wiring also need renewing. Windows are said to be corroded beyond repair and part of the ground floor is suffering from subsidence. (Source: BBC News, Aug/08)