Green light for Wick’s new council base
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THE great exodus of Highland Council workers from Wick town centre to make way for a multi-million pound office redevelopment is to go ahead this winter after a lease for a temporary replacement premises was signed last week.
This means members of the public wishing to access the council’s service point will be heading to Girnigoe Street for around the next two years as the Market Place staff decant to former Department for Work and Pensions premises.
The £8.5 million project is running two months behind schedule due to problems in getting the owners of the DWP building to sign on the dotted line.
But the deal was done last Thursday and has been hailed as "fantastic news for the town" by civic leader Gail Ross.
"The regeneration of the town centre is paramount and we should look to the future as a positive destination," said Councillor Ross.
"Factors outside of council control have caused the slight delay but that’s normal when you are dealing with third parties.
"We want to try and get things moving forward as soon as possible and in the grand scheme of things I don’t think the delay will make that much difference."
The lease with property firm Trillium and sub-letters, the DWP, was signed last Thursday after the Caithness Courier reported the day before that the project was behind schedule. The original schedule was for staff to move next month.
Caithness ward manager and project manager David Sutherland explained that the lengthy delay was due to a hold-up on the owner’s part.
Wick Councillor Neil Macdonald said it is a relief that the wait is over.
"The time it was taking to get the go-ahead was concerning quite a few people," he said.
"But it’s looking good now and I’m led to believe the replacement building will be fine once it’s up and running.
"The sooner they get up to Girnigoe Street and work gets started, then the sooner the new building is in place."
Mr Sutherland said that the council is currently arranging with Fujitsu to programme the IT works at Girnigoe Street and he expects this to be firmed up in the coming weeks.
"We are programming for a move either early December but more likely early January 2013," explained Mr Sutherland.
"Now that we have a lease, we are able to award the contract for minor works at Girnigoe Street ahead of the decant. This will involve some minor alterations, the creation of a service point and ensuring the telephony and IT is all up to date."
Mr Sutherland said that the council would be speaking this week to contractors who submitted tenders. Notice will be given when the main contract is awarded.
When work starts, the council offices in Market Place will be rased to the ground, with the exception of the curved section on the High Street – Stafford Place, a category C listed building, which will be incorporated into the new open-plan offices.
Plans for the new building show an open lobby, where the public can meet council staff, a series of interview rooms and a council archive where documents can be kept – putting an end to multiple copies and wasteful paper use.
Other concepts incorporated into the new design include an outside store for market traders using the square and a wood-chip-fired biomass boiler.
The decision to scrap the offices was taken by the council after it was noted that a large internal load-bearing wall was subsiding and that the building was not fit-for-purpose.
Local community councillors have raised concerns that the demolition and building work will mean a new venue will have to be found for the Christmas tree and stage for the Hogmanay band as the Market Place would be out of commission due to the ongoing works.
