Gedling Borough Council's leader has revealed the authority could sell off its current headquarters amid "frustration" at the number of staff working from home. Councillor John Clarke, who has led the Labour-controlled council since 2011, says he would ideally like to see a "full house" in terms of the number of staff working from its Civic Centre building in Arnold.
But Cllr Clarke estimates the number of staff in the building has halved compared to the number who were there before the coronavirus pandemic. Coupled with a desire to have a more environmentally-friendly office, Cllr Clarke therefore said discussions are taking place about the future of the Civic Centre.
The Civic Centre was first built in 1985 and is situated within Arnot Hill Park in Arnold, which itself first opened to the public in 1919. Discussions about its future will not progress for the next few months given that the pre-election period known as 'purdah' is due to start in March, preventing announcements which could be seen to influence the electorate when they come to vote on May 4.
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But assuming that Labour retains Gedling Borough Council and he retains his own position as leader, Cllr Clarke said the Civic Centre's future will be on the agenda immediately after the elections. He said: "If I'm fortunate enough to still be in the same position after the elections, I'll walk in with a whole list of things and the chief executive will faint, then we'll get round to how we're going to do it.
"There is some ongoing work as to what we do with the future of this building and all our properties. We've got to really look at how we project the future of the council and I'm looking at the Civic Centre, do we let this go and build something that is smaller and environmentally-friendly?
"The Civic Centre isn't environmentally-friendly, it's got solar panels on, this that and the other, but none of the walls in my office are insulated and the windows are shot. There is a programme to renew the windows, but it's sensible to think about whether we could relocate in Arnold or Carlton with a newer, more custom-designed Civic Centre."
Cllr Clarke stressed that no firm decision had been made yet, but added: "With a building like this in such a beautiful park, I know people are showing interest in it if we did decide to move." It comes as discussions are also ongoing about the future of Nottinghamshire County Council's County Hall building in West Bridgford.
A decision on the future of that building is due in March and Cllr Ben Bradley, leader of the Conservative-controlled authority, said he expects the council to "partially vacate" County Hall. The high running costs of the building and the number of staff working from home have been cited as reasons why County Hall's future needed to be considered, with Cllr Bradley claiming the building is only ever around a quarter full in terms of staff.
Ideas including luxury flats and a restaurant have been mooted in terms of what could be based at County Hall in future, though no firm decision has yet been made. Cllr Clarke, who is also a member of Nottinghamshire County Council, himself opposes the possible sale of County Hall given the amount of money the authority has spent on it.
But in terms of the Civic Centre, Cllr Clarke also mentioned home working as one reason why its future needed to be considered. He said: "The home working situating is frustrating and I can understand how it works for some people, but I've got some people in this building that come here because they like getting up and coming to work.
"You've got to accommodate that and you've also got to give some freedom. Personally, I like to see a full house here if we can but we're not going to go back to those days.
"It's something we need to look at urgently, because how are we going to meet that green agenda if we've got a building that's really not fit for purpose? Straight after the elections, it's on the agenda to look at what we do and how we accommodate people's feelings."
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