New Nottinghamshire County Council offices at Oak House, Hucknall, set to ‘save taxpayers millions’
A move away from rented office space is set to save a council more than £270,000 a year.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s new low-carbon office Oak House, near Hucknall, is to be the new home of two front-line council services which are currently based in a leased office space.
Annual running costs and rent for the council’s Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) and customer service centre’s premises currently cost the authority more than £278,000 annually — but from May, the two key services are due to move into Oak House.
It is part of a wider cost-cutting project to move more front-line council staff out of rented and expensive-to-run offices and into energy-saving buildings based in areas where residents need services the most.
The MASH helps safeguard vulnerable children and adults and staff from the county council, police, health, probation services and schools will continue to work together in the same office.
MASH operations manager Merlin Tinker said: "We look forward to this move from our current rented accommodation as Oak House will provide a modern, flexible space for partner agencies to collaborate and will be close to the communities and families we serve."
The customer service centre handles all public enquiries and deals with more than 750,000 queries a year, including those via social media.
Council leader Sam Smith said: “We want to prioritise delivering vital services such as MASH and our customer service centre, rather than just running expensive buildings, some of which we are paying out rent for.
“This is why Oak House was always intended to be built for these services. Then later down the line it made financial sense to update these plans, before building work started, so that the decision-making function of this council could also be based in the very heart of our county.
“We are investing in the future. Oak House will see essential services based where they are most needed. And by reducing the number of council offices, we're saving local taxpayers millions.
“We have a plan to make sure local services are more sustainable for local people, for the long term."
Oak House’s design will mean heating bills will be kept as low as possible, and will rank it within the top 10% of new UK non-domestic buildings in terms of environmental sustainability.
It’s construction has also created jobs, and boosted the area’s supply chain, with the majority of sub-contractors and tradespeople located within 20 miles of the site.
