Listed council headquarters to undergo revamp

Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans to revamp the Grade II* (two star) headquarters of a south Wales council have been given the go ahead.

In September, Simon Jennings of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council lodged a listed building planning application with county borough planners for proposed works at the General Office in Ebbw Vale.

The proposed changes to the Grade II listed building would be in two steps.

The first would see the removal of the existing reception area and relocation in an alternative space.

Works would include reinstatement of finishes within existing space and introduction of new services, access control, reception desk, lighting, access control gate, floor finishes in a newly formed area.

The second step would see enhancements within the first floor Abraham Derby room and the ground floor Jack Williams VC Hall.

This would consist of new acoustic rafts suspended from existing trusses and acoustic panels fixed to various walls.

This second set of proposals could see full council meetings which could allow all councillors and accompanying staff to be in either the hall or room.

A planning report said: “The works are considered to actively enhance aspects of the building’s special interest in line with policy, guidance and legislation noted and are therefore supported in determination and the recommendation is approval.”

The decision notice on the planning approval was signed by Christina Harrhy the acting Joint Director of Economy and Place for both Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen council’s Christina Harrhy.

The notice details 11 conditions that the council needs to abide by,

This includes a condition which says that the council has five years to begin the work.

The General Offices was built in 1915-1916 to be the main offices of the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal Company.

It was supposed to be even bigger, but the work was stopped by the First World War.

Gwent Archives was added to the north-eastern corner in 2010, and the building was given its listed status in 1999. It draws its historical significance from its links with the company and industrial metal production in the town dating back to the 1780s.

The General Offices is almost the only surviving structure associated with iron and steel production in Ebbw Vale.

The only other is the Furnace Bank located less than 300 metres to the north of the offices, but this structure is largely overgrown and hidden behind some new houses.

In March 2020 at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, council staff left the headquarters at the Civic Centre – never to return.

Since then, the Civic Centre building has been flattened, and it is expected that housing will be built at the site in the future.

In 2021, a new law was brought in by the Welsh Government which required local authorities to ensure their meetings are capable of being held remotely.