Plans advance for demolition of Cardiff Council’s HQ

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Plans to demolish Cardiff Council’s current headquarters have taken another step forward.

The council recently announced that it had completed a business case supporting the demolition of County Hall at Atlantic Wharf and the construction of a new, smaller HQ nearby.

Cabinet members at the council agreed to approve in principle the full business case at a meeting on Thursday, October 24.

Cllr Goodway, who attended the first meeting that took place at County Hall after it was built between 1986 and 1987, said the council believed it had chosen the “most compelling” way forward after “a long and detailed” process.

It is understood that the cost of building a new office building will be half the cost of renovating County Hall, which would be in the region of £100m.

Debt

However, group leader of the Liberal Democrats, Cllr Rodney Berman, was less convinced by the plans, referring to the proposed new office as a “palace for politicians” that would drain council finances and add to the local authority’s debt.

A council report shows that going ahead with the plans for County Hall will cost the council’s budget an extra £2.3m – £3m.

Cllr Berman said: “I think if you went out and asked [people] where they [the council] should be spending an extra £2.3 – £3m it would be on a lot of extra other things… but not necessarily on a new council building.”

He later went on to add: “That is going to come at the expense of revenue funding for vital services. I really think we should be looking at this again.”

‘Fit for purpose’

The leader of Cardiff Council rejected Cllr Berman’s description of the new HQ as a ‘palace for politicans’, adding: “It is not what this building will be. This is about creating a fit for purpose office environment for our staff.”

He also said there was a need to act now on the future of County Hall as the cost of a “catastrophic failure” would be much greater and drain council resources even more.

Work at the front of the building to fix a leaking roof recently cost the council about £105,000.

The council’s cabinet member for finance, Cllr Chris Weaver, also said he had confidence that the proposed way forward offered good value for the council and residents.

Concerns were raised in the past about the climate impact of demolishing County Hall and building a new office.

Cllr Dan De’Ath, whose cabinet portfolio at Cardiff Council now also covers climate change, said the climate impact of County Hall’s future was something that “a lot of thought and study has gone into”.

He added: “As we have seen though this process… it became more and more obvious to us that a new build was the most sustainable… low carbon option.”

Cabinet members at the council gave the go ahead for a full business case to be developed on the future use of its core office space, which includes City Hall, on June 22.

City Hall

The decision to build a new office will mean the council will no longer use the office space at City Hall, but it will continue to hold full council meetings there once maintenance work is completed.

Demolishing County Hall will also open up space for five plots on the land there which could be used for a variety of purposes like social housing – something the council has already hinted at – and private offices.

The new council office would be built on land in front of County Hall.

The ‘Cardiff Live’ proposal will stand alongside the new indoor arena, the council’s new offices, 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 its own content.

Now that cabinet has given its approval, the next steps in the scheme will see the council 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 would be followed by the finalisation and approval of a development agreement by May, 2025.