£18 million plan to revamp Shropshire Council’s Shirehall HQ
Shropshire Council bosses are looking to spend more than £18 million on refurbishing their authority's outdated headquarters.
Papers were set to go before members of Shropshire Council's cabinet today outlining plans for a multi-million pound renovation of the 1960s Shirehall building in Shrewsbury.
Having employed a firm of architects to undertake a study earlier this year, the council has now determined that a full renovation of the building is necessary.
The authority had considered vacating the site and relocating and rebuilding the council offices elsewhere.
However, it was determined that the costs associated with this combined with the costs of demolishing Shirehall were too high.
Around 550 members of staff currently use the building, which was built in 1964 having been designed by Ralph Crowe, although there are approximately 1,024 potential work stations.
Of the 34 meeting rooms, only 34 per cent were found to be in use when a survey was carried out during September.
According to HLM Architects and Real Estate Works, Shirehall currently operates at 54 per cent efficiency while the industry standard is between 80 and 85 per cent.
They also found that the council was wasting 819,500KWh per year due to mechanical and electrical inefficiencies and approximately 246,200KWh per year as a result of the single glazing which is currently in use.
In papers to be considered by members of the cabinet, George Candler, the council's director of place and enterprise said that if the renovation was to go ahead, productivity could be improved by 20 per cent, while absenteeism could be reduced by 25 per cent.
Members of the cabinet have been asked to approve the investment of £300,000 to commission the detailed design and costings of the proposed full refurbishment plan.
The council has submitted a bid to the One Public Estate funding stream for a £75,000 grant to prepare further detailed work.
The outcome of this bid was expected at today's meeting.
Earlier this year, plans for a £7.5 million refurbishment of Shirehall were on the cards.
Alan Mosley, leader of Labour group on Shropshire Council, said the work must be rigorously scrutinised.
