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Agenda item

Changes to Cotswold District Council's Offices at Trinity Road, Cirencester to Facilitate Agile Working and Increase Commercial Income

Purpose

To seek agreement to the changes to Cotswold District Council’s Offices at Trinity Road, Cirencester to facilitate implementation of the Agile Working Strategy, reducing costs and carbon impact of the Council’s operations and creating lettable space within the building to provide income to the Council.

 

Recommendation(s)

That Council agrees:

 

a) to support the proposed changes to office layout;

 

b) to seek tenants to occupy space that will be created in the West wing of the building;

 

c)  to delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to agree lease arrangements in consultation with the Interim Head of Legal Services and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance.

 

d) allocate funding of up to £975,000 from the Recovery Investment Strategy budget in the Capital Programme to facilitate the changes to the Trinity Road offices and fund structure repairs identified in the building condition survey;

 

e) The detailed costs to be agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Chief Executive and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance.

 

f) To note that the gross revenue savings of £202,000 will contribute towards the savings from the Recovery Investment Strategy.

 

 

Minutes:

The Deputy Leader presented a report from the Group Manager – Commissioning, which sought agreement to the changes to Cotswold District Council’s Offices at Trinity Road, Cirencester to facilitate implementation of the Agile Working Strategy. This would reduce the Council’s occupancy by 35%, reducing costs and carbon impact of the Council’s operations and creating let-able space within the building to provide income to the Council.

 

Councillor Stowe commented that the projected return on investment from the income provided by new tenants assumed no void periods.   With the wider changes to agile working being adopted everywhere, how confident was the council that the building would remain consistently occupied? Councillor Evemy stated that officers had confirmed there was interest from organisations looking for high quality, centrally located space with good parking provision but there was always a risk.  Councillor Evemy added that the 12% projected return on investment was for full occupancy but lower occupancy (50%) would still exceed the recovery investment strategy of around 4%.

 

Councillor Cunningham commented on the 25% increase in carbon reduction costs between December and January review and details of the larger line items.  Councillor Evemy stated that the December figure did not include the contingency, but this was included in the January figure.   The Chief Accountant stated that the costs reflected solar PV, insulation, changes to lighting etc.

 

Councillor Blomefield commented on the organisations likely to be interested in sharing the building and asked if commercial lease lengths would be offered and how car parking for staff and visitors would be allocated between the two organisations.  Councillor Evemy confirmed that any agreement with new tenants would be on commercial terms and include a parking provision.

 

Councillor Andrews commented that some teams work better when located together and provision needed to be made to meet this requirement.  The Council Officer responded that there had been 3 rounds of consultation and this had reduced the final amount of space that has now been allocated for other tenants, and all Council teams are now happy with their allocation of space.

 

Councillor Theodoulou commented that shared car parking could become a problem unless the allocation of parking was clearly defined at the start of any co-location.  Councillor Theodoulou added that careful consideration should be given to the benefit gained by junior officers working alongside more experienced colleagues learning the job as they go.  The Council Officer stated that ‘learning from peers’ had been recognised as an important training method for certain services and this had been addressed throughout the consultations, and added that online training had improved significantly.  Councillor Evemy confirmed car parking will be considered as part of negotiating agreements with future tenants.   

 

Councillor Berry commented this was a large project with implications for the Council and asked if a cross party working board to work with officers to deliver successful outcome to the changes.  Councillor Evemy agreed to consider this and identify how Members can be brought into the project as it moves forward.

 

Councillor Coxcoon commented that the future parking provision needed to reflect a move towards sustainable transport and not assume that everyone will continue to drive to the offices.  The offices needed to become a place where Officers, Members and new tenants feel able to cycle and walk to work wherever possible.

 

RESOLVED: The Council agreed to support the proposed changes to the office layout, seek tenants to occupy space that will be created in the west wing of the building, delegate authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to agree lease arrangements in consultation with the Interim Head of Legal Services and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, allocate funding of up to £975,000 from the Recovery Investment Strategy budget in the Capital Programme to facilitate the changes to the Trinity Road offices and fund structure repairs identified in the building condition survey, the detailed costs to be agreed by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Deputy Chief Executive and the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance and to note that the gross revenue savings of £202,000 will contribute towards the savings from the Recovery Investment Strategy

 

Voting Record- For 23, Against 0, Abstention: 5, Absent: 6.

Supporting documents: