County council’s Cabinet make decision on office accommodation in Carlisle

Cumbria County Council's Cabinet has now decided what the future of office accommodation for county council staff in Carlisle will look like. At a meeting in Cockermouth on 10 May, Cabinet considered three options for the ‘Better Places for Work’ programme ranging from keeping things the way they are now to commissioning a brand new building.

The council currently operates from 20 different offices in and around Carlisle, some of them are leased and some are owned by the council but many are old, inefficient, inflexible and not fit for purpose. The option which Cabinet have agreed on is to rationalise and refurbish certain properties and to build a new office building on the site of William Street carpark which will accommodate around 650 workstations.

This option will mean that the majority of council buildings in Carlisle could be sold and that in the future staff will operate from three locations;
- New building
- Civic Centre
- Refurbished and modernised Barras Lane in Dalston

Talking about the Cabinet decision, Deputy Leader, Stewart Young said: “I’m delighted that Cabinet have gone for this option as it fully meets the key objectives of the Better Places for Work programme as we will be improving working conditions for our staff through introducing more modern open plan working.

"It will also enable greater integration and synergy with our directorates bringing together teams and locating staff more appropriately.”

Staff are reassured that they will be given as much notice as possible for any move. It is currently anticipated that any new build office would be available for use some time in 2015.

Cabinet also discussed options for property solutions in our other key service delivery areas of Penrith, Kendal, Barrow, Ulverston, Copeland and Allerdale.