By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
The first stage of work has begun on Nottinghamshire County Council’s new £18.3m offices near Hucknall.
The building on Annesley Road will replace the landmark but outdated West Bridgford headquarters, County Hall, by early 2025, potentially saving £1.5m each year.
Work has begun on clearing the site, with construction due to start in the New Year.
Construction is under way on the new road and roundabout for the site at Top Wighay, between Hucknall and Linby.
This will eventually allow the wider 86-acre site to be occupied by 805 homes, a primary school, a shopping centre and 21 acres for businesses and offices.
Nottinghamshire County Councillor leader Cllr Ben Bradley (Con) hopes the new location will make the council more accessible, while also saving money.
“Today we’re breaking ground on our new office building in Hucknall, which will save us many millions of pounds,” he said.
“The council has gone from 17 to nine buildings, reducing the size of our estate so we can focus taxpayer money on delivering services, rather than heating old and expensive buildings.
“By having a new site in the middle of the county – rather than the southern edge in West Bridgford – we can hopefully be more accessible to residents, as well as having a cleaner, greener building for the future.
“This is in the geographic centre of our county. We’ve heard residents in the north feel distant from the county council and we want to be more accessible.”
He said that it was important the council made the move now, despite an estimated spending gap of £60m over the next three years.
“It’s an invest-to-save proposition. We will save over £1.5m every year on the costs. That’s all the more important when we’ve got these budget pressures,” he said.
“For residents in Hucknall it means job creation, and we will ensure the site is well-connected to the town and residents will feel the benefits.
“Hopefully we will be holding the first council meetings here in February or March 2025.”
The current County Hall costs £1.7m to maintain each year, in addition to £30m essential maintenance over the next 12 years and £28m to bring it up to modern environmental standards.
It also larger than the council needs due to more staff now working from home.
No future uses have been confirmed for the building, which was opened in 1946, although ideas such as luxury riverside apartments, a hotel, bars and restaurants have been floated in the past.
More details are expected to be announced in the New Year.
The new council building is being designed, project and cost-managed by Arc Partnership, and delivered through their construction partner, Morgan Sindall Construction.
Dan Maher, managing director of Arc Partnership said: “This is an anchor project for the site as a whole as we continue to deliver housing and schools.
“Having the headquarters of Nottinghamshire County Council based here is a real boost to the whole area.
“It’s built to the best environmental standards and will reduce running costs going forward.”
Nottinghamshire County Councillor Keith Girling, Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management, said: “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.”
