Council has been paying £42K a week to run previous HQ

The cost of moving a council’s HQ was £700K, the council says, but will lead to significant annual savings.

Conwy has also revealed it had been paying over £42,000 a week to run its old Bodlondeb office, before the move to Coed Pella.

The figures were released by the authority following an enquiry by the Local Democracy Reporting Service after figures published on a tendering site in 2023 suggested upgrading Coed Pella, including adding a council chamber, had cost in the region of £1.7m.

The figures published on the Sell2Wales site, under the heading ‘Office Accommodation Strategy (Part 2) – Coed Pella Offices Lead Consultant and Multi-disciplinary’, stated: “A high level cost estimate for the works is £1,693,000. The design works are to be undertaken bearing in mind these budget constraints.”

But Conwy says those figures are now incorrect or outdated.

Running costs

A council spokeswoman commented: “The total cost to bring all functions into one office (Coed Pella) by reconfiguring the space to accommodate the council chamber, democratic hub, and other services moving in will be around £700K.

“The estimated cost to keep both Coed Pella and Bodlondeb and carry out essential maintenance work only to Bodlondeb was £990,000. To carry out full refurbishment of Bodlondeb was between £8.3m and £10.4m.

“The annual running cost for Bodlondeb is about £550K. Once the building has been transferred through a long lease, the council will no longer be liable for these running costs, and the council will also receive a capital receipt for the long lease.”

She added: “Therefore, it was agreed to bring all functions into one office (Coed Pella) by reconfiguring the space to accommodate the council chamber, democratic hub, and other services moving in.”

“Sustainable”

Council leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey said: “Throughout this process we’ve been very aware that we had to get it right.

“It’s essential that we reduce our operating costs, optimise the use of our assets, reduce our carbon emissions, and avoid significant repair and maintenance costs.

“It has been costing about £42K a month to run the Bodlondeb office, and that’s without taking into account the backlog of maintenance; the significant modernisation costs required to make the building fit for purpose; and replacing IT equipment in the chamber to support hybrid meetings and public webcasting.”

He added: “And of course, we’ve been able to make the decision to move to one office knowing that there is a sustainable and exciting future for the Bodlondeb building – providing economic development opportunities for the town of Conwy and wider area.”

Conwy is now in the process of moving out of Bodlondeb to the £58m flagship Coed Pella building in Colwyn Bay.

The council is redeploying staff to Coed Pella after agreeing to hand over Bodlondeb to Idea Forums.

Bodlondeb will then be used as a business centre by the Cardiff-based enterprise on a long-term lease.

Conwy is due to hold what will presumably be its last council meeting at Bodlondeb on Tuesday, May 6 when the education and skills overview and scrutiny committee meet.

The council’s finance and resources overview and scrutiny committee will then meet at Coed Pella on Monday, May 12.