Work on Nottinghamshire County Council’s new low-carbon office building near Hucknall has started as part of a major investment in the area.
The new office is designed to help bring long-term savings for the taxpayer and environment as part of a wider project to move more frontline council services into cost-effective, energy-saving buildings.
It also marks a key milestone for the site which is planned to be regenerated into a new community which will include 805 much-needed new homes.* The site is on council-owned land which has been earmarked for development for more than a decade.
The first phase of work for the new office includes site clearance and creating safe access to the site. Construction work is due to start in the New Year and is due to be completed in early 2025.
As well as the Council’s civic, democratic and leadership functions, it will be the new home to two key frontline services, the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) for vulnerable children and adults, and the council’s customer service centre, which handles all public enquiries.
Meanwhile, construction of a new section of road and roundabout within the site, which began in September 2023, is progressing well and is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2024. The aim is to improve access to the new office and ultimately help traffic flow ahead of planned new housing due to be built on the wider site.
Thanks to a low carbon design, high insulation levels and heat-absorbing features of the new building, heating bills will be kept as low as possible to help meet the Council’s environmental ambitions. This design will also help keep the building cool in the warmer months, so no air-conditioning will be installed. Rooftop solar panels will also help generate electricity.
The new office is being designed, project–managed by Arc Partnership and delivered through Arc’s construction partner, Morgan Sindall Construction, with opportunities for their local supply chain as the development takes shape.
Nottinghamshire County Council Leader, Councillor Ben Bradley MP, welcomed the start of work on site. He said,
“This a key milestone and shows we are looking to the future. The decision-making function of this Council will be based in the very heart of our county and will help to bring jobs, skills and investment into the wider Hucknall area.”
“By reducing our number of offices by around a half, we’re saving local taxpayers millions, and ensuring that we can prioritise delivering services rather than just running expensive buildings. We’ve got a plan to make local services more sustainable for local people, for the long term.”
Nottinghamshire County Councillor Keith Girling, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management, added,
“This new, carbon-neutral office provides good value and is part of our wider plans to reduce the number of council offices as we modernise the way we work which will save taxpayers’ money in the long term.
“One of the many advantages of this new building is that Morgan Sindall’s local supply chain will benefit from this, which is great news for the economy.”
The new building will be built to standards which will rank the building within the top 10 per cent of new UK (non-domestic) buildings in terms of environmental sustainability.
Earlier in the summer, the majority of county councillors voted to eventually move out of County Hall in West Bridgford and move the Council’s civic, democratic and leadership functions into the new office.
County Hall is too expensive to operate and maintain with a cost of more than £1.7m each year. It also requires essential maintenance costing more than £30m over the next 12 years, plus an additional £28m would be needed to bring the building up to modern environmental standards.
And with the rise of home working, it is too large to meet the councils’ needs.
More details about the next stage for County Hall’s future options will be announced in the New Year.
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