Work begins on Nottinghamshire County Council’s new £18.3m, low carbon headquarters office near Hucknall after decision to leave County Hall in West Bridgford, Nottingham
Work has begun on Nottinghamshire County Council’s new £18.3m, low carbon, all-electric office building.
The new office, north of Hucknall along A611 Annesley Road, is designed to help bring long-term savings for the authority and with a focus on environmental sustainability.
It is part of a wider project to move more frontline council services into cost-effective and energy saving buildings.
Earlier in the summer, the majority of county councillors voted to eventually move out of the council’s current home at County Hall in West Bridgford and move the council’s civic, democratic and leadership functions into the new office.
At a cost of more than £1.7m each year, it was argued that County Hall is too expensive to operate and maintain — and with the rise of home working, is too large for the councils’ needs.
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.
The new building will be built to standards which will rank the building within the top 10 per cent of the UK’s new non-domestic buildings in environmental sustainability.
The site is on council-owned land, which has been earmarked for development for more than a decade, and will be regenerated into a new community which will include 805 new homes.
The first phase of works for the new office includes site clearance and creating safe access.
Construction work is due to start in the New Year and scheduled for completion 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 expected to be completed by Summer 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.
The low carbon design, with high insulation levels and heat absorbing features, mean 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.
Nottinghamshire County Council’s leader, Ben Bradley MP, 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."
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 office is being designed, project and cost-managed by Arc Partnership and delivered through Arc’s construction partner, Morgan Sindall Construction, with opportunities for their own local supply chain as the development takes shape.
More details about the future of County Hall’s are expected to be announced in the New Year.
