Cheshire West and Chester Council’s £3m fit-out costs at HQ building

Dec 31 2009 Chester Chronicle

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council is spending £3m to fit out the offices in the HQ building in Chester.

The council bought the prestigious accommodation, by the racecourse, for £18.8m.

Now a report reveals the council has allocated £24.4m for the HQ scheme, which includes £3m fit-out costs and stamp duty.

The £3m includes £700,000 to reconfigure the ground floor, which was originally to feature two restaurants. Now the council is using the space which would have occupied one of the restaurants for offices and meeting rooms.

Deputy council leader Cllr Les Ford believes the original concept of promoting a cafe culture in the central piazza will remain intact despite removing a restaurant.

He said: “I hope there is (a cafe culture) because we need it anyway for our staff.”

Cllr Ford insists no other existing building was large enough to accommodate the council workforce and says there is no reason why local authority staff should not enjoy a pleasant working environment.

“We are running a professional business and things need to be done efficiently,” he said. “I don’t see why our staff shouldn’t have a reasonably good building to do it in.”

However, Cllr Ford said ‘as an outsider looking in’ he questioned Cheshire West and Chester’s decision to locate in the building, which he described as ‘the best office accommodation in Chester’.

“Does that seem fair on the taxpayer?” he mused.