£2m spent on council office refurb

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 30-07-2009

Plans to spend £2 million on a council office refurbishment in Chelmsford have come under fire.

The Chelmsford Civic Centre is in need of updating, however, a new proposal to provide modern office design space at the building have been lambasted, according to ThisIsEssex.co.uk.

Councillors have called for a scrapping of the plans, as they claim now is not the right time to be making such large spending commitments.

However, council leader Roy Whitehead commented: "I estimate any work for the executive offices and councillors' quarters would be less than 20 per cent of the total cost.

"I expect all £2 million to be paid for in energy and maintenance savings over time."

Meanwhile, an office refurbishment project at York city centre's Aspire development recently resulted in the property selling its entire office interior stock. Having created 20 separate modern office design spaces, Skelwith Group - the owner of the building - set about finding buyers for the workspaces.