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Plan for £11 million City Hall in Leicester

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Nearly £11 million is to be spent creating a new City Hall in Leicester, it has been revealed. Leicester City Council needs to quit its current base - the crumbling and condemned New Walk Centre - by Easter. City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby today said he had rethought his initial plans about where council staff will work after the authority leaves 1970s office complex. Sir Peter had proposed to move some of the 1,200council staff into the council-owned Attenborough House in Charles Street on a temporary basis after spending £3 million refurbishing the 1930s art deco property. Now however he intends to make the building, formerly home to the Willie Thorne Snooker Club, a permanent headquarters renamed City Hall, following a £10.8 million revamp. It will be base to some 630 staff while others will be relocated other council-owned and rented premises in the city centre. In total the council is to spend £19.9 million on moving from New Walk Centre, which is set to be demolished. Sir Peter accepted it was a large sum to spend at a time when the council's budgets are under pressure but said he thought it represented good value for money compared to the relocation plan he inherited when he was elected in 2011. That plan was for the city council to buy and refurbish the Leicester Mercury office in St George Street at a total cost of £56 million. Sir Peter said: "When I looked at what the council had planned before my time it was clear that it was not economical. "By a sensible combination of recycling our existing buildings and using short term leases we can save millions of pounds." Sir Peter said he had come to see Attenborough House as a better long term option than just using it as a stopgap to place staff until a permanent solution was available. He said: "The previous figure was just to patch it (Attenborough House) up. We will have to spend on it but I have decided it was worth doing properly." The money will be spent on double glazing, new heating and lifts and new electrics and roof repairs. As well as offices there is potential to turn the old snooker hall into a public space for performances though Sir Peter said it would not replicate the council chamber in the current Victorian town hall. A further £1.3 million will be spent renovation York House, in Granby Street, which is the base for area traffic control. In the same building, the former Pound Stretcher store, will be the council's new £800,000 customer service centre. Wellington House and the town hall will undergo a £800,000 revamp with £900,000 being spent on offices for 300 staff in Princess Road West, and £174,000 on number 16 New Walk where 240 employees will be based. It will cost £2.6 million to relocate the council's computer servers from New Walk to an undisclosed location. Some £1 million will be spent on putting IT wiring and hardware into offices with £639,000 on new furniture and removal costs. On top of that £615,000 will be spent on fees and contingency costs. The council says that investing the money now will help it save £1.3 million annually from its running costs. It costs the council some £840,000-a-year to mantain the New Walk Centre. Opposition Tory councillor Ross Grant said: "Once again councillors have been kept in the dark about an important decision which has beet taken with out scrutiny. If that happens it can be very hard to unpick. "To invest so much money in York House - a building the council leases rather than owns does - not seem to be the best use of public money." Sir Peter said the council had a long-term lease on York House. He also said there had been "considerable interest" from potential developers and occupiers in the cleared New Walk Centre site. He said the council would seek to create a hub of local businesses and that some city council staff would eventually return to offices there." SEE ALSO: • What readers want to see replacing New Walk Centre... What should replace New Walk Centre in Leicester MIPIM: Leicestershire attracts attention of international financier Bid to find buyer for council's HQ Leicester City Council set to spend £800,000 refitting Poundstretcher store

Plan for £11 million City Hall in Leicester


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