£8.5m council offices plan gets final go-ahead
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A NEW "one-stop shop" for council services in Wick’s town centre has been given the green light.
Caithness ward manager David Sutherland told the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council last week that new council offices have been granted planning permission.
He said approval was given last month and the council is now waiting on Historic Scotland to give the go-ahead to incorporate part of the listed building facing onto High Street.
The local authority is going to demolish most of the council buildings in Market Place and replace them with a modern, fresh, working environment to increase service delivery.
Mr Sutherland told the Caithness Courier that in order for work to get under way in October there will be a temporary move out of the town centre.
"We will have the service point shifted for a time up to the old DSS [department of social security] building in Girnigoe Street," he said. "But when it comes back to the new building there will be greater access to all services in one place."
Local authority staff will move to the former DSS building this summer for a period of around two years in order for work in the town centre to get under way.
Plans have already shown that when staff return to the "all-under-one-roof" building in 2014 it will be a mix of both old and new elements.
The current offices overlooking the High Street and Market Place will be knocked down with the exception of the listed building Stafford Place, the curved section on High Street, which will be kept and incorporated in the new design.
Mr Sutherland said: "Due to the size of the contract EU procurement rules kick in so it will be open to contractors from all over. But I imagine that one of the local contractors will get the subcontracted work."
The £8.5 million project will go out to tender at end of January/beginning of February on a design and build contract.
A pre-qualifying questionnaire will be issued in order to work out who can manage the main contract in due course.
Mr Sutherland said although staying in the town centre is not the cheapest option it was felt keeping the workforce – around 150 to 180 people – central would boost local trade.
"Keeping that significant number of people in the town centre means that they are spending in local shops which invigorates the town centre," he said.
"Originally, the council were looking at a few options for supplying new offices which included out-of-town solutions but that meant we had to do something with the gap left in the town centre.
"There was no interest from any developers so back in 2008 the council reviewed the options and said that the best way forward was to redevelop the existing site."
Mr Sutherland said the council didn’t receive any objections to the plans.
"We employed a conservation specialist who did historical
research into the building and produced a report which looked at what could stay and go," he said.
"We were able to identify important historical and architectural parts of the building that we were going to retain. I don’t think we have had any negative feedback and the staff have embraced it as well."
The project will cut down on council overheads and save on revenue by moving staff located in other buildings in the town to one place.
Affected by the move will be education services, currently based in Rhind House, and the social work department, which is in a leased office in High Street.
The new building will also be greener, with a biomass boiler replacing the half storage and half oil boiler-powered heating system currently used.
