Cardiff Council has unveiled plans to replace the aging County Hall with a smaller modern office building.
After a detailed business case process, the new build option has been confirmed at less than half the price of refurbishing County Hall and it will also be less than half the cost to run each year.
The council said tht due to rising demand for social services and provision for additional learning needs in schools, allied to rising costs, Cardiff is facing a projected budget gap of almost £60 million next year and a medium-term gap of nearly £150 million by 2029.
Maintenance and running costs associated with council buildings are the second most significant expense for the local authority after staffing costs, which the authority said made it crucial to save money and avoid additional costs.
A report to the council’s Cabinet on Thursday, October 24, will note that to make County Hall fit for purpose for the future and to significantly extend its lifespan would require over £100 million of capital investment.
In the light of that, Cabinet will be recommended to build a new, smaller core office building at about one third of the size of the current County Hall to deliver the following benefits:
- Much reduced capital investment with a new building costing around half of the cost of modernising the current County Hall.
- Big savings on running costs from a much smaller, energy-efficient building.
- Office space that is better suited to modern working practices and partnership working.
- A net zero carbon building, aligning with the Council’s One Planet Cardiff commitments.
In June last year, Cabinet outlined the ambitious plans for ‘Cardiff Live’ when it chose a new building as the preferred way of avoiding rising costs and gave the go ahead to procure a new office. This was following a report in December 2021 which highlighted the substantial investment required to address the maintenance issues at both County Hall, and City Hall. By June 23 the estimated combined cost for both buildings rose to over £200 million.
The ‘Cardiff Live’ proposal will stand alongside the new Indoor Arena, containing the Council’s new offices including a suite of meetings rooms, a new 40,000sq ft event hall to complement the Indoor Arena, and the Capella Production Studios which will provide space for the Wales Millennium Centre to create their own content. The new shared spaces will be available to support meetings and events for the local community. Also, through the social value exercise in the procurement process the Council has secured numerous commitments from the preferred bidder relating to local employment, education and local improvements within the community. The decision to build ‘Cardiff Live’ alongside the Indoor Arena provides a major vote of confidence in the plans for Atlantic Wharf and Cardiff Bay.
The decision to build a new office will mean the Council will no longer use the office space at City Hall. A report outlining progress on the work to modernise and replace the heating and ventilation system at City Hall, and thereby reducing running costs and carbon emissions, was published in May 2024. The latest report going to Cabinet this month underlines the Council’s commitment to ensuring that the iconic building reopens as an events venue in 2026.
The Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, said:
“It is incumbent on us as an administration to make sure that Cardiff Council operates as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible, ensuring prudent use of public funds. That ethos is an ever-important consideration for us, but never more so than when we are facing massive budget cuts, huge increases in demand for our services, and soaring costs.
“That last point on costs is a particularly salient one when it comes to considering the future of Cardiff Council’s core office provision. After staffing costs, our building costs are the next most significant, and an area to explore in depth as we continue to look for budget saving opportunities.
“Since 2015, we have done much to drive down the costs associated with our buildings. By removing 12 properties from our office estate, we have reduced running costs by £2 million annually and we have removed £5 million in maintenance liabilities. But we can and we must do more.
“A move out of the current County Hall – a building that is at the end of its operational life and is much bigger than the council now needs – not only removes a maintenance liability of over £100m, but also halves annual running costs.
“It would cut the size of County Hall substantially, so we can benefit from more efficient accommodation which aligns with the council’s move to a modern and agile working model. It would bring a County Hall which better protects the environment by being a net zero carbon building operationally. It would deliver a building which acts as a catalyst for further investment and regeneration of the wider area.”
Cabinet Member for Investment and Development, Cllr Russell Goodway sees an increasingly urgent need for a long-term, sustainable solution.
“It is an absolute priority for this administration to find a long-term solution to remove the drain on the Council’s finances caused by significant maintenance requirements in its core offices.” Cllr Goodway said, adding: “County Hall has reached the end of its operational life and the longer it remains in use, the greater the £100 million-plus maintenance liability becomes, and this sits alongside an inherent risk that the building could fail and we might have to vacate, leading to unbudgeted for costs. The sticking plaster is not the answer, we must fundamentally redraw our approach to Cardiff Council’s core office provision.
“The benefits of building a new County Hall go beyond the cost savings to the Council however – the decision on the future of County Hall has the potential to really accelerate the regeneration of Cardiff Bay which needs to be revitalised if we are going to bring more jobs and more visitors to the city, boosting the local economy, and helping create new businesses.
“We have brought forward the proposal for new offices as part of a wider ‘Cardiff Live’ development that would deliver a substantial new business and cultural venue for the city, including a creative production centre known as Capella, in partnership with the Wales Millennium Centre, and an additional conference and events venue which will complement the new Indoor Arena.
“The new development would be at the heart of our wider Atlantic Wharf project, a key anchor project that would stimulate private sector investment across the area. In delivering the Atlantic Wharf project we would be signalling our commitment to Cardiff Bay and in doing so providing confidence to the private sector to invest.
“There is also the opportunity to look at the land which would be vacated at County Hall for social housing which could help tackle the housing emergency. The city needs more affordable homes, and more council homes and there’s an opportunity here which needs to be thoroughly investigated.”
The Council has explored various options for its future core offices provision, including refurbishing County Hall at its current size; refurbishing it at a reduced sized; finding suitable existing office accommodation; and developing a smaller, more cost-efficient new building. A critical appraisal of the options was set out in a report to Cabinet in June 2023.
In weighing up the options, Cabinet considered several factors based on the findings of independent analysis, including financial risk, ongoing cost, carbon footprint and timescales, and new-build accommodation was agreed as the preferred option.
The Council is now seeking Cabinet approval to appoint the successful bidder following a procurement process for the delivery of the new office building which has confirmed a fixed price for the construction of the building. The next steps include entering into a Pre-Contract Service Agreement (PCSA) to develop detailed designs and to finalise all costs including the cost of remediating the ground. This will be followed by the finalisation and approval of a Development Agreement by May 2025.
Cardiff Council’s Cabinet will meet on 24th October to consider the recommendations contained in the report.
Prior to the Cabinet meeting, the report with be scrutinised by Policy Review and Performance Committee when it meets on 22nd October.
