Council prepares to move staff between offices to save money

The red-brick building was vacated by staff from the Department for Children, Schools and Families in the summer, when the department moved to a new building five minutes' walk away in St Paul's Place, after the Government said it wanted more modern premises.

Sheffield Council had already agreed to buy the Moorfoot building from the Government and initially planned to demolish it to make way for a new business district, but that plan had to be put on hold due to the recession.

As a result, the authority has now drawn up plans to move staff out of number of council offices across the city into Moorfoot for a temporary period of five years.

Because many of the council's office buildings are held on leases, all of which end over the next five years, the move could bring about "significant" cost savings.

According to the council's figures, the cost of renting the authority's current offices will reach 15.8m by the 2015/16 financial year. Temporarily using Moorfoot, however, would cost 9.5m, including the cost of fitting out the building – a saving of more than 6m.

Coun Simon Clement-Jones, Cabinet member for finance at Sheffield Council, said: "Rather than spending extra money on additional office space we are using our assets wisely, providing greater value for money for the city's council tax payer.

"There's no point finding additional office space when we have vacant property we can use, I'm sure readers will agree."

At a Sheffield Council Cabinet meeting today, members have been advised to agree to the temporary use of Moorfoot, rather than refurbishing the building for use in the long-term or continuing to rent a number of existing offices in Sheffield.

In the report set to go before today's meeting, the council's director of property and facilities management, Nalin Seneviratne, says that due to Government spending cuts and the impact of the recession the current office network is "not sustainable."

He said: "The current longer-term remodelling or redevelopment options, whilst having significant potential wider benefits, do not achieve the financial objectives that the council needs any new accommodation strategy to achieve at this stage.

"The council is currently not in a position to make a long-term commitment to accommodation due to current budget issues and the need for service redesign.

"Therefore, temporary use of Moorfoot provides an opportunity to overcome short-term accommodation issues.

"The delivery of this proposed office accommodation strategy is an effective use of resources by the city council.

"Reductions in the cost of accommodation mean savings generated will assist with the provision of key services to Sheffield people without unnecessary expenditure on office space."

All options to be considered involve keeping the Town Hall – though mainly for meetings and official purposes – and the existing council offices at Howden House,

Two hundred and seventy staff have already left Derwent House, where the lease has expired, to move to the north wing of Moorfoot. Next year they are set to be joined by staff who currently work at Central Buildings and New Bank House, when those leases come to an end.

Over the next five years, leases are also set to be terminated at Sovereign House, Barkers Pool House, Palatine Chambers, Yorkshire House, Queens Road, Jaunty Way and Sheldon Road.

Mr Seneviratne said: "Temporary use of Moorfoot will enable the leases at Central Buildings and New Bank House to be terminated when the lease term for both buildings ends in March 2011. It will see the co-location of legal services in Moorfoot and free up space in the Town Hall for meeting space and more third party use.

"There is the potential for a lease swap between Sovereign House and New Bank House. Such a swap – possible as both buildings are owned by the same landlord – would enable the vacation of Sovereign, which has many building issues, with the retention of New Bank.

"This would facilitate the co-location of legal services without having to find new short-term occupiers of Sovereign, with options for the communities staff to move into New Bank or Moorfoot."

Today's Cabinet meeting begins at 2pm at the Town Hall.