A planning application has been submitted by Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects for the development of a purpose-built operations centre for Huntingdonshire District Council.
The following is a statement from Councillor Ian Bates, leader of the council:
I am delighted that Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects has on Friday 19 May 2006 submitted a planning application for the development of a new, purpose-built, Operations Centre for Huntingdonshire District Council.
This development, on a site acquired by the council off Latham Road and to the north of Huntingdon, is the first exciting step in a three-year project which will enable the council to improve even more the services it provides the people of Huntingdonshire.
Provided the necessary consent is granted, the existing Operations Centre in Godmanchester will close, so ending the need for refuse lorries and other heavy vehicles to make daily journeys through the conservation area. The depots in St Ives and St Neots will also transfer to the new Operations Centre, making the delivery of these important services more efficient and co-ordinated.
Later this year McAlpine will lodge planning applications for the demolition and rebuilding of our Pathfinder House offices in Huntingdon and the construction of a Customer Service Centre, the second next major milestone of this project.
Once these two new developments are completed I believe the enhanced level of service we will be able to provide residents will be very significant, and finally bring us firmly into the 21st century.
At the heart of this major programme of improvement is Pathfinder House. It has served as our headquarters for many years but it is no longer efficient. It is woefully inaccessible to the public, with poor disabled access and with customer-focused departments located on different floors dotted throughout the building. It is expensive to run. And anyone who has visited us, or who has walked or driven along St Mary’s Street, will realise that it is in a very poor state of repair, wrapped for health and safety reasons in a protective skeleton of scaffolding.
The redevelopment of this site is essential if Huntingdonshire District Council is to maintain excellent services, and the decision to seek to address the problems of access was earmarked for praise in a report by the Audit Commission.
Since the defects and associated problems with the reinforced concrete structure of Pathfinder House were first identified in May 1996 the repair or replacement of the building has been the subject of repeated discussion.
Independent surveyors have been monitoring the condition of the building and in 2000 a number of repairs were carried out.
In 2003 a building report concluded that the reinforced concrete had continued to deteriorate and as a result loose masonry was considered to constitute a health and safety hazard. Loose material was removed and scaffolding installed to ensure the brickwork was secured to the concrete structure.
In my opinion if we were to fail to act decisively now and replace the building, we would be irresponsibly jeopardising the continuity of essential council services.
The contracted cost of the rebuild and the Customer Service Centre is £16.2m. The important work to streamline our refuse collection and other services in one central location will cost £6.1m. In addition, a further £1.1m of costs will be incurred directly by the authority, making a total cost for the three-year project of £23.4m – as reported to the Council in February 2006.
The Government is currently considering a possible reorganisation of local authorities, but every indication is that there will not be any significant alteration to the structure of councils in Cambridgeshire. In any event, the new headquarters buildings have been designed to offer a good deal of flexibility which would enable one or more of the new office blocks to be let or sold if requirements were to change in the coming years.
The reality is that to do nothing with Pathfinder House is not an option. Repairs to the existing structure would be expensive and disruptive, and would not deliver the modern, flexible, accommodation that is needed.
The three-year project will enable the council to greatly improve the delivery of, and access to services; it will deliver long-term cost savings and significantly contribute to the redevelopment of Huntingdon, providing buildings for our communities of which the district can be proud.
Both the headquarters and operations buildings are being designed to provide high levels of energy efficiency and incorporate the principles of sustainable development, and the headquarters building is required to achieve a BREEAM excellent rating*.
I am convinced that the project offers value for money and, when completed, will offer the people significantly better access to council services in an environment fit for the 21st century.