£50m redevelopment will see construction of new council HQ
Plans for a £50m redevelopment scheme in Warwickshire will see the construction of a new council headquarters.
Warwick District Council, working through its partnership with Public Sector Plc – a specialist public sector property investment and facilitation company – is aiming to create a new council headquarters, a multi-storey car park and around 40 private apartments in the Covent Garden area of Leamington town centre.
Once completed, the local authority’s present site on Milverton Hill will be redeveloped for housing, helping to offset the cost of the new council facility.
Plans for the two schemes have been presented to the council’s development review forum and will be on public exhibition early next month, with planning applications expected to be submitted by the end of June.
The new car park is needed as the existing facility is beyond repair due to alkali-silica reaction – often known as ‘concrete cancer’.
Under the plans, designed by architects Corstorphine & Wright, the number of car parking spaces at Covent Garden would increase and there would be more than 60 charge points for electric vehicles.
The new council headquarters – which would be less than half the size of its current base – would save more than £300,000 a year in operating costs, while the overall scheme is intended to create a new gateway to the town centre.
It would include a new council chamber and a one-stop shop service for the public. The move would see 350 jobs moved into the retail core – which could stimulate the local economy to the tune of around £1m. Around 250 jobs are likely to be created during the construction phase.
Warwick District Council leader, Cllr Andrew Mobbs, said the plans had been drawn up to solve several major problems, while at the same time bringing a major economic and regeneration boost to the town.
He said: “This is a complex project that will bring significant benefits to the town. The Covent Garden site is in need of major investment. The multi-storey car park is an eyesore so we intend to take it down and replace it with a new (one) to support the town centre.
“At the same time, the council is saddled with an out-dated headquarters which is not only far too large for what is needed, but is costly to run and in need of major repairs so we intend to replace it with a smaller office that will cost us £300,000 a year less to run – money that we can then ensure goes towards preserving vital and high-quality services for our residents.”
An aerial view of the new Leamington scheme
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