Designed and built by Eric Wright Construction the 60,000 sq ft facility houses 450 workstations for 700 staff, with hot desking, mobile working and modern technology helping to reduce overheads and cut the Council’s carbon output in half – from 1,546 tonnes to 826 tonnes.
The development forms part of the local authority’s Better Places for Work project, which sees its office accommodation decrease from 22 buildings to two in Carlisle. The new build was also seen as key to help the regeneration of the Botchergate area.
When the project was approved in January 2015, the Council was facing a £13m maintenance backlog liability on existing accommodation, along with high running costs. The rationalisation programme to sell the majority of its office assets and move to just two locations will save around £1m each year.
Cllr Stewart Young Leader of Cumbria County Council said; “I am delighted with the new office. It now not only provides a state of the art modern working environment for our staff it also provides a welcoming and fit for purpose environment for the public. Even though we have only just recently completed the move, the benefits are already apparent. Staff have commented on how much they are enjoying the new space and how it is helping to support our one team approach with its open plan design and flexible working space. Local businesses are also already reporting an increase in their trade thanks to the relocation of our staff to the area. So while any investment at a time of austerity is difficult I remain confident that this was the right decision to make.”
Peter Barr, head of pre-construction at Eric Wright, added: “A key challenge was that budgets were set when the market was still quite depressed; so we employed innovative construction solutions to ensure it stayed on cost and quality was maintained. It was a true design and build project for us, instructing on the feasibility right through to construction.”
