Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

[HopesDad]

How are they vastly oversized offices??

It is the main head office for the county that in about 2012 claimed to employee almost 30000 staff.

Do you have stats go back up your statement or is it finger in the air again??

Seems pretty full when u walk past looking up at the windows.

Haha I thought it wouldn't take you long to respond.

I think the fact that for six years most of the ground floor remained unused, with room to squeeze in the town's library (albeit a vastly reduced token library) a university and catering outlets suggests that the building is at least one storey taller than it needs to be.

By the way, very few of the 30,000 staff you quoted actually work in that building. Indeed, the vast majority have never set foot in it, nor will they ever.

 

[Mikinton]

I'm not sure I'd describe Staffordshire Place as "plush". Though some might disagree, "functional" is maybe a better description.

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

I'm not sure I'd describe Staffordshire Place as "plush". Though some might disagree, "functional" is maybe a better description.

True, as part of my job I've looked after other local authorities who have build brand new HQs (Wakefield and Rotherham for example) and those places were of a higher standard, and a better design.

Personally i would of had one building with the same footprint and had a bespoke library made to measure and not rammed in like they have done. I would of build a cafe into it as well.

 

[Steve_b]

Would have made a great location for a Bus Station, and multi-storey, and even a secure cycle park, central to the town. SCC could have gone to Redhill, or the old road tax building.

 

[Steve_b]

It is the main head office for the county that in about 2012 claimed to employee almost 30000 staff.
.

Haven't the CC outsourced half their staff to Entrust? Who now have their own offices on Riverway?

 

[Mikinton]

Haven't the CC outsourced half their staff to Entrust? Who now have their own offices on Riverway?

I think payroll's being done out of county as well. (Hereford and Worcester?)

 

[Sir BoD]

Haven't the CC outsourced half their staff to Entrust? Who now have their own offices on Riverway?

No where near half their staff. The current council buildings in Martin Street (including the 1960s building opposite Staffs Place) are being decommissioned, so all staff are moving across to Staffordshire Place. The staff have been asked to work on a 7 to 10 desk ratio, so some will work from home. The payroll has been outsourced to Liberata in Worcester. I believe they work in partnership with Worcs Council.

 

[Jonah]

A behind-the-scenes deal will have been done by the County Council to persuade the university that the shire hall is suddenly not suitable for their needs, and the council offices would be a much better option. That way, shire hall finds itself empty and so can be sold off, and the vastly oversized council offices are a bit more full. Win win for the council, who will have bought off the university with our council tax. The council won't be at all bothered that they have given premises intended for retail over to what is littke more than office accommodation, thereby creating another 'dead' area in the town where the public will not go, rather than the vibrant area that was promised to justify the obscene overspend on plush offices for the council.

What you have posted about Wolverhampton Uni is complete and utter rubbish.

 

[Steve_b]

The current council buildings in Martin Street (including the 1960s building opposite Staffs Place) are being decommissioned, so all staff are moving across to Staffordshire Place.
.

Been on the cards for some time I guess!

 

[proactive]

You might of mentioned it, but then again some people might not pay much notice of what you say....

Really?

Shocking, how rude!

 

[c0tt0nt0p]

Really?

Shocking, how rude!

Well indeed....I did say "might"....i could be completely wrong and misjudged....

 

[proactive]

Well indeed....I did say "might"....i could be completely wrong and misjudged....

Someone clearly is...

 

[HopesDad]

True, as part of my job I've looked after other local authorities who have build brand new HQs (Wakefield and Rotherham for example) and those places were of a higher standard, and a better design.

Personally i would of had one building with the same footprint and had a bespoke library made to measure and not rammed in like they have done. I would of build a cafe into it as well.

The town already had a bespoke library, the Carnegie building which was sold off and has been rotting away since. It was never intended that the library would be shoe-horned into the building, and there was, and still is, no need for it to be.

 

[HopesDad]

You might of mentioned it, but then again some people might not pay much notice of what you say....

Had you bothered to check back prior to posting you would save seen that your post was superfluous and unnecessary.

 

[HopesDad]

Would have made a great location for a Bus Station, and multi-storey, and even a secure cycle park, central to the town. SCC could have gone to Redhill, or the old road tax building.

There was nothing wrong with the SCC offices were they already there, in buildings that have mostly stayed empty since SCC moved out. Any other authority would have embraced being based in historic buildings rather than just letting them rot away. But then this is Stafford where, as has been demonstrated time and time again, normal rules do not apply.

 

[Lucy]

I will ask you again, which ward are you standing for councillor in?

 

[Gareth]

Haven't the CC outsourced half their staff to Entrust? Who now have their own offices on Riverway?

I think you are right from an education point of view. But I m sure Entrust also look after the 2 new buildings - which are the former property / premises management department I would guess. So they maybe on the entrust payroll, but looking at the entrust badges around the building the former scc staff now entrust seem to have a significant presence in the builds

 

[Gareth]

There was nothing wrong with the SCC offices were they already there, in buildings that have mostly stayed empty since SCC moved out. Any other authority would have embraced being based in historic buildings rather than just letting them rot away. But then this is Stafford where, as has been demonstrated time and time again, normal rules do not apply.

What buildings have remained empty since vacated...I can only think of the green library, plus alot of the buildings the council vacated were not theirs....I.e. tech park, above greenwoods.

 

[Mikinton]

There was nothing wrong with the SCC offices were they already there, ....

Is this the voice of experience? I can show you some right dungeons that our guys were asked to work in*. Access for disabled staff was never exactly state-of-art either.

From my point of view, the main benefit was getting colleagues under one roof and "customers" just a short walk away. Having worked 20 years for the council, always either side of Eastgate Steet, I then spent 10 years being bounced around the town - Sandyford Street, Beaconside, Green Hall - before settling with everyone else in our section in Staffordshire Place.

* I'm thinking here of our Comms guys who were asked to work from Bailey Street, Britannia House and here on Foregate Street despite the comms equipment being located at Eastgate Street.

 

[Really?]

You can't say the council offices were built a storey too high, they were purposely built so that t he ground floor, which attracts higher rent and rates, could be let out in an income generation move. The fact that they are overpriced on both rents and rates and no one was interested, is another point. The fact that publicly funded bodies are having to take the space (and for once I agree, this is probably through a dodgy deal but as it's public money then who cares) actually is quite a worry. I would hope the one private body that will be there has done a hell of a deal on both rent and rates to try and attract people.