A greener, more efficient future for public services
19.03.24 5 min read
We’ve worked in partnership with numerous local authorities around the country to help them rationalise their estates, work more efficiently and provide modern and customer-focussed civic hubs.
Brixton Civic Centre
Working with our partner, the London Borough of Lambeth, we rationalised the council’s core office buildings from 14 to 2, saving them at least £4.5m a year and cutting carbon footprints by two-thirds. We freed up vital space for community uses, restored the historic Grade II Listed town hall and Art Deco Ivor House, created a brand new civic and community hub, alongside new homes and commercial space.
We worked hard to understand our partner’s and the local community’s needs and working together, we tackled challenges head on. An honest and collaborative relationship between partners, design team and contractor resulted in a high quality civic and community hub for employees and local residents.
Designed to be highly flexible to accommodate future change and smart working, the workspace created in the new Civic Centre provides a variety of settings over five floors with a welcoming Customer Service Centre on the ground floor.
Talbot Gateway, Blackpool
Talbot Gateway is our £100 million regeneration of this part of Blackpool, delivered in partnership with Blackpool Council. Once complete, it’s transforming a key area of the town centre into an exciting new commercial and leisure quarter.
A new five-storey headquarters for Blackpool Council, Number One Bickerstaffe Square, enabled the council to rationalise seven former property assets into a centralised office space. It delivered practical, flexible workspaces in an energy efficient building that reduced the council’s energy consumption by a third.
One Bickerstaffe Square, Blackpool
Time Square, Warrington
Our work with Warrington Council at Time Square to address the challenges of the traditional high street inspired the vision for Warrington town centre. We wanted to create reasons to come back to town, by combining national brands with local favourites to create a unique place – somewhere safe, friendly, fun and familiar.
Alonside a new leisure destination, we created a new civic hub to provide flexible workspace for more than 1,000 council employees. It’s enabled a move to new ways of working, meaning savings of up to £2.6m a year for the council and a substantial reduction in carbon footprint to boot.
Warrington Council Civic Office
Wakefield One
Alongside our partners, we transformed a formerly derelict strip of land with railway sidings into a popular mixed-use neighbourhood next to Wakefield train station, with civic hub, community facilities, homes, shops and restaurants.
Collaboration has been a main feature of this place, with many different parties working together to help the city achieve its potential. The multi-award-winning Wakefield One helped Wakefield Council streamline their estate from 36 buildings to 12, saving money and allowing them to work more efficiently, as well as creating a community focus with a museum, café, library and One Stop Shop.
The multi-award-winning Wakefield One
Doncaster Civic and Cultural Quarter
As part of our work with Doncaster Council, to create a new civic and cultural quarter in the town centre, we delivered a new civic hub for the local authority. This assisted the Council in rationalising its estate, bringing several departments together under one roof in a purpose-built, low energy building. The BREEAM Excellent workplace provides accommodation for up to 1,600 staff.
The five-storey building included flexible office space, a state-of-the-art Council Chamber, and a one-stop-shop for frontline council services. A ‘spend to save’ development, it is set to reduce the Council’s operational costs by an estimated £650,000 per annum.
The One-Stop-Shop and Council Chamber are located at the front of the building, overlooking a new public square. The Chamber windows allow passers-by to observe democracy in action, promoting openness and inclusivity.
Doncaster Civic Centre
Colwyn Bay
Our BREEAM ‘Excellent’ civic building in the heart of Colwyn Bay was designed to improve efficiency and reduce the council’s carbon footprint, while improving service delivery by bringing colleagues under one roof. It reduced the council’s estate from 13 offices to one connected and modern central hub.
Our work forms part of the council’s wider regeneration of the town, which has seen over £50m invested to modernise the historic promenade and coastal defences, along with a new beach and the redevelopment of the stadium and events centre at Parc Eirias.
