Purpose

To agree closure of King George V House,
Amersham and to agree the future CAP provision for Amersham and
Chesham

Content

The establishment of the unitary council created
opportunities to rationalise the office
accommodation inherited from the legacy councils. Furthermore, in
common with other parts of the public and private sector, the
organisational use of office
accommodation had changed significantly post-Covid.
 
The closure of King George V House (KGVH) formed a
component part of the Council’s Occupational Estates Strategy
set out in the Cabinet report of January 2023, which identified the
potential closure. Data on operational usage of the Council’s
main buildings had been collected over a significant period of time
post covid and the occupancy data gained for KGVH showed that it
was now the least occupied of the corporate buildings. Work had
therefore been done to consider future options as set out in this
report.
 
KGVH had the capacity to house over 526 desks on a daily
basis. Data collected over a significant period of time post covid
suggested it was now occupied at around 16% capacity. In addition
to being significantly underutilized, its closure would contribute
to the carbon saving of the Council.
 
A
formal consultation had been held with employees whose contractual
location was currently KGVH. Employees who had a contractual
location elsewhere but had chosen to work from Amersham for
business or personal reasons had also been consulted with.
Employees had been invited to comment on the proposals and 1-1
meetings had been held with their Head of Service where the
employee had requested it. The results of that consultation had
been considered.
 
This initiative also considered how the Council would
continue to respond and engage with the community and the proposals
to extend the Council Access Points and also the transfer of
activities currently undertaken at KGVH such as Planning Committee
meetings.
 
Initiatives already completed to support the achievement of
the required Medium Term Financial Plan cost savings and improved
efficiencies have included the closure of Capswood; commercial letting of Easton Street
Offices and Wycombe Old Library, closure of floors at Walton Street
Offices and the re-purposing of office space at The Gateway. As
part of the estate’s strategy, the Council was awaiting a
decision from the Secretary of State regarding the certificate of
immunity for the Council Offices at Walton Street. The closure of
KGVH contributes to this programme and
did not conflict with any of the work undertaken to date or planned
moving forward.
 
The Council’s Work Smart Strategy had been designed
to enable the organisation to
maximise the benefits of flexible
working, whilst ensuring that it meets the requirements of
residents and continue to drive improvements in productivity. The
Council’s desk-based teams, in particular balanced the
benefits of working in the office and collaborating with colleagues
in person, with the opportunity to work at home and reduce
commuting. These arrangements had become critical to the
Council’s ability to attract and retain staff within a
competitive labour market. The
Council’s experience of this model of working over the past
two years had provided the Council with a good dataset about the
Council’s need for office space.
 
Bringing forward the closure of KGVH offices from July 2024
to January 2024 meant that the Council could increase its
opportunities for savings in revenue and further its ability to
rebalance the office estate with actual requirement.
 
There was a discussion around the proposal in relation to
car parking (2.15 of the report) and providing a 30-minute drop off
free of charge. Following discussion, it was agreed that Cabinet
was not minded to pursue this proposal as it would be difficult and
costly to enforce.
 
RESOLVED –

 

(1)              
That the closure of
the Council Offices at King
George V House, Amersham, be brought forward
with:

(i)                
Blocks A
and B, and the KGVH CAP+ having a last
operating day of 12 January 2024.

(ii)              
Block C
closing upon the opening of Chesham Library
touchdown.
 

(2)          
That King
George V House staff be relocated
to the Queen Victoria Road
offices, Wycombe, with exceptions where there is a business
rationale for an alternative
base.

 

(3)          
That the
Chesham Library ground and first floors be refurbished to provide
an enhanced library offer on the ground floor and Council Officer
touchdown space for Adult Social Care, Children’s
Services/Child Protection Conferencing and Communities on the first
floor, in accordance with the plans shown in the
appendices.  
 

(4)              
That the
revenue and capital costs of moving to be all forward funded from
the King George V House sale proceeds.
 

(5)              
That a
budget supplementary change to the Medium Term Financial Plan
for forward funding the
implementation costs be APPROVED, as set out in the Cabinet report
and the confidential appendix.
 

(6)              
That the Council market
for sale King George V House and seek conditional or unconditional offers for the
freehold, subject to any contract noting that
a further report will be brought to Cabinet in 2024 once marketing
and agreement of Heads of Terms have been
finalised.
 

(7)              
That the
Council move to two Council Access Points
(CAP +) locations in Buckinghamshire,
one in the north (Walton Street, Aylesbury) and one in the south
(Queen Victoria Road, Wycombe).
Note: The CAP+ sites to
continue to be managed by Customer Service staff in those locations
as they are in main Council buildings and CSC
staff provide face to
face service for the more complex customer
enquiries.

(8)              
That a
Council Access Point (CAP) offering be created in Amersham Library,
ready to operate from 15
January 2024.

Note: Library CAP sites are managed by
Library staff and provide a
more general set of service enquiries, sign posting, self-service
terminals and a telephone service which gives access to a priority
phone line into the Customer Service
Centre.

 

(9)              
That it be
NOTED that the January 2023 Estates Strategy report considered the
potential re-provision of a
smaller footprint of
offices thancurrently in Amersham.  This will not now be provided as
Council Access Points and alternative facilities will be provided
at Chesham Library, as set out in the Cabinet
report.

 

(10)       
That it be
NOTED that this report delivers savings and a capital receipt
linked to the Medium Term Financial
Plan.