Refurbishment of Shirehall to be considered by Cabinet

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet is to consider a proposal to further explore the redevelopment and refurbishment of Shirehall, the council’s Shrewsbury headquarters, at Cabinet meeting this morning.

Shirehall has been the council’s administrative base since 1964, and now is in urgent need of improvement if it is to continue to be suitable in the long term.

To this end, the council commissioned a specialist team to carry out a feasibility study earlier this year. They were tasked to explore whether the building could be reconfigured and refurbished in order to meet the council’s priorities; making it better suited to modern working and creating income-generating opportunities.

The report to be discussed describes the outcome of this study, which took into account two options: partial refurbishment, or full refurbishment of the building and estate. Consideration was given to vacating the site and relocating and rebuilding elsewhere. However, the costs associated with this, combined with the costs associated with demolishing Shirehall, are deemed to be too high.

Partial refurbishment
To attend to the identified priority areas, creating a much-improved, more flexible and less costly space for occupiers. This strategy will mean that around 50 per cent of the building will remain untouched and left empty. The estimated cost of this is £8.1 million.

Full refurbishment
To complete a refurbishment and reconfiguration of the entire building, creating a much-improved, more flexible and less costly space, improve the reception and entrance arrangements and take up opportunities to bring partners into Shirehall via the One Public Estate programme (https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/housing-planning-and-homelessness/one-public-estate) and other arrangements, as well as bringing in commercial partners to key strategic street front locations. The estimated cost of this is £18.7 million.

The report further states that improvements to the building will reduce future maintenance liabilities, improve running costs and increase working efficiencies, provide a much-improved working environment, provide an opportunity to consolidate/rationalise the council’s administrative bases, generate income by attracting commercial lets, and boost public perception and sense of civic pride.

Officers are recommending to move forward the option of refurbishing the entire building and progressing the necessary due diligence and feasibility work over the next three months.

Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for corporate support, said: “Shirehall is an excellent base for the council and has been for many years. Despite its age, it remains so and is structurally sound with its key mechanical and electrical systems still viable.

“We are continuing to reduce the number of buildings we occupy to lower costs and to ensure that our limited funds are focused on services rather than buildings. Because of this, a greater proportion of our staff are now located in Shirehall, making it more important than ever to invest in it now in order to save in the future.

“The building is expensive to run – windows span its expanse, and they are all single-glazed, making it exteremly inefficient to run. There are also lots of repairs needed after limited investment over the years.
“We are excited about the prospect of sharing the space with others and making the building more commercial, and we’ve already had some interest. But we first need to ensure that the building is a place they want to be.”

If approved, further work will be undertaken to develop the proposal, at a cost of £300,000. A final recommendation will then be made to Cabinet and then Council in early 2018.