June 28 – The Council has considered the question and now their political opponents appear to be offering support for the possibility – is it time to move on from the Civic Centre?
The large complex of brutalist style buildings opened in the post war period have served a useful purpose but as the world of work has changed and the city centre has declined is it now the moment to look at a more cost effective solution to administering services.
Newport Tory David Fouwether said recently “I think the Civic Centre is not fit for purpose anymore. The running costs are horrendous. But what do you do with the building? That is a major problem. A lot of it is listed.”The Council responded “We can confirm that at this moment, the council has no plans to relocate from the civic centre to another location,” they added.
The Council currently spends £1.05 million on the building, covering all costs. A trial closure of the building on one day per week saves it £50,000 in utility costs. They scaled back plans to close it two days per week and have already transferred many key front facing services such as social care, housing and benefits in to the city centre. The one day closure is subject to a feasibility study which presumably will look at extending the closure period. But for now in a building of 300 plus rooms it hosts between 250-300 workers on a daily basis, with the vast majority of office based staff predominantly working from home.
Any move therefore would require an alternative use for a large part of the existing building, it would need to protect the amazing mural at the entrance, presumably retain a council chamber and have no impact on the nearby Crown Court.
The current building is remote from the city centre. Any relocation must support the revival of the city centre and make better use of public transport facilities.
The Council has several options –
1. Stay as it is incurring ever increasing costs.
2. Refurbish the existing building at a high capital cost (£15 million plus) reducing ongoing costs but look to lease out or section off part of the building for alternative uses. In this scenario it could share some of the capital costs with a potential developer.
3. Repurpose a historic building like the Westgate incurring significant capital costs but bringing a key city centre building back into use.
4. Move into a ready fit modern office such as the Admiral Building on Queensway, reducing running costs but still requiring a limited fit out.
5. Move into multiple smaller, modern, lower cost sites e.g. part of the new College Campus building at Friars Walk, level 1 of the former Debenhams building, all near to amenities and public transport.
Options 4 and 5 offer real flexibility and limited capital costs, but alternative uses must be found for the main building too. It is a difficult one but the Council needs to move it forward soon. A new vision for Newport City Council’s home is needed.