‘State of the art’ government office block shut for safety reasons

Martin Shipton

An office building housing 1,600 UK Government staff that was hailed as a state-of-the-art “operational hub” when it opened less than four years ago has been shut because of safety concerns.

Ty Taf, a 133,000 square foot building, was opened by Therese Coffey, the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in October 2021 at Nantgarw, near Cardiff for DWP staff in south Wales.

At the time, the then Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, said “It’s great to see Ty Taf opening in Nantgarw. The investment by the UK Government in this new state-of-the-art building shows our commitment to levelling up, supporting jobs and prosperity in every part of the UK.”

The building, located at the Treforest Industrial Estate, was designed to use efficient solar-powered technology that reduces its impact on the environment. It also has electric vehicle charging points for staff.

The project was delivered by Cardiff-based property development firm Rightacres – responsible for a series of new developments in Cardiff city centre – with its funding partner L&G.

Structural problems

However, Nation.Cymru has been told that Ty Taf has had a succession of structural problems since being opened. We have now been forwarded a number of emails sent to staff by the PCS union.

One, dated July 14 2025, states: “I have just written to the SRO [senior responsible owner – a civil service term denoting the manager in charge of a project] regarding the safety of Ty Taf. It’s not normal for two windows to smash for no reason. People should never have been allowed to move their cars whilst glass was falling. A dynamic risk assessment should have been done. Sticking film over the window is not a solution but a sticking plaster.

“It’s not the first time this has happened, but last time [named manager] claimed it was a bird strike although the people sat by the window at that time denied this.

“We have asked for a structural engineer’s report to prove that the office is structurally sound and we will let you know when we get this. We believe this building has a number of issues such as the toilets constantly breaking and the lifts are always breaking. We are now wondering if this, on top of the windows, is an indicator that there is a structural problem with the building – hence the request for the report.

“We have asked the SRO to close the office until it can be proved that it’s safe. In the meantime, you can ask your line manager to let you work from home whilst a safe workplace is established. If they refuse, ask for a response in writing as that will be evidence if anything should happen to you.”

Heatwave

A further email from PCS, also dated July 14, stated: “Management did state that they wonder if the glass breaking was due to the heatwave and as the weather was cooling it might not be a problem. As the Met Office has said there will be further hot weather in Wales, it’s a bit of a moot point.

“We are concerned that this office is susceptible to weather changes, especially with global warming being as it is. In heat windows shatter, in the wind doors don’t work and in the rain windows leak and we are likely to have floods. This on top of the initial problems with electrics, lifts not working, broken toilets and the issues with the hot water. This office is a disaster,

“The SRO also said there had been a structural engineer’s report in January this year. But that was to do with the tremors on the fourth floor and that report states they did do a visual check of the stairwells and that the cracks there did not indicate a problem. They did leave monitors to check, and we were previously told that nothing was found, but in today’s meeting Estates admitted that what was found was in the allowable parameters. What this means we have not yet found out.”

A further PCS email dated July 18 stated: “To reiterate, PCS does not think it is safe to return to the building as we don’t believe the mitigations they are putting in place go far enough. We want the survey carried out prior to a mass return to the office and a date for it to be carried out. Some time in the future is not good enough when it comes to staff safety.”

Full survey

A DWP spokesperson said: “We take staff and customer safety seriously; we closed the building following the damage and staff were advised to work from alternative locations.

“A full survey will be conducted to investigate the cause of the incident, and any recommended actions will be taken to ensure the safety of the building.”

The spokesperson added that after the damage to the two windows on July 11, the building was closed, and staff were advised to work from alternative locations.

The spokesperson further stated: “When the window fell to the floor, the area below had been closed off and no-one was in the building A structural engineer’s report this year confirmed no issue with the structure of the building.”

The building will partially reopen on Friday July 25 and fully reopen on Monday July 28.