Wakefield One

Building work has been completed on Wakefield’s new civic offices, a key part of the city’s Merchant Gate scheme that is transforming the 17-acre site into a vibrant, urban quarter for Wakefield in the heart of the city centre.

Wakefield One, the name of the Council’s new building, has now been formally handed over to the Local Authority, who will complete the fit out to accommodate 1,200 staff before it opens its doors to the public in September 2012.

The building will allow some of the Council’s services to relocate, offering one point of contact for a range of Council services, including a customer access point, business lounge, library, and museum.

By moving several services into one building, and out of other buildings which will be closed and then sold, the Council will reduce overall running costs by £1m a year, contributing to the Council’s need to make savings.

The new four storey building, which occupies a prominent position on Burton Street next to the existing Grade-1 listed County Hall, was delivered by English Cities fund (ECf), a partnership between Muse Developments, Legal and General Property and the Homes and Communities Agency.

The development, designed by Cartwright Pickard Architects, and built by Morgan Sindall, will provide new 123,000 sq ft office accommodation and has been designed to deliver a flexible space that allows for the evolution of the building over time.

Achieving BREEAM ‘Excellent’ status, the new civic offices are designed to provide long-term savings through innovative environmental technologies, such as a natural air filtration system which will provide a constant supply of fresh air into the office space and the installation of a biomass powered heating system. This process minimises the need for mechanical ventilation and reduces the overall energy consumption of the building, with clear environmental and financial benefits.

In addition, the building will deliver on environmental performance using exposed concrete to control to temperature within the office space and a timber-lined atrium to absorb noise to minimise the impact of activity on the surrounding offices.

David Wells, development director for ECf, said: “This is another achievement for Merchant Gate and a significant milestone for the wider regeneration in the city. Whilst many other developments across the UK have been on hold due to the current economic climate, ECf has remained committed to Merchant Gate and to Wakefield and have pressed on with the scheme.

“In these challenging times it’s tremendous to be reporting such good news. The whole team have been committed to working hard to make sure we deliver a first class building for Wakefield.”

Councillor Peter Box, Leader at Wakefield Council, adds: “We are really pleased with the new building, which looks great, and has been built on time and on budget. Wakefield One will save the Council at least £1m a year and, through bringing several services into one place, provide a better service for residents. So we’ll be providing more for less, a great achievement in these tough financial times.”

The civic offices make up phase two of ECf’s Merchant Gate scheme, which has already introduced a new multi-storey car park to serve the station, 66 contemporary residential apartments, 47,000 sq ft of Grade ‘A’ office space and 35,000 sq ft of retail and leisure accommodation to the city.