Staffordshire County Council Office buildings - Wrong choices?

Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt

Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt

Well-Known Forumite
I was walking through town the other day walking past the now frankly embarrassing Staffordshire Place buildings that still seem endlessly beset by snags and problems and then I walked through towards the historic County Buildings and found myself studying them a bit more closely.
The County Council have now vacated many of them to move to their new white elephant and there seems to be the real concern that they are now being left to go to wrack and ruin. I noticed many of the window frames are flaky or rotting and some of the windows are actually broken. Old buildings such as these don't cope well in terms of not being occupied or continuously fettled and generally cared for -a bit like owning a classic car, constant repair and checks are a must

It seems that the County Council has just moved into new premises and largely forgotten about those which it has left. That is OK for those sites like Riverway that are being flattened and re-developed but the old County Buildings have huge historical significance and are a key part of the Stafford Heritage and as such are a "special case"
I know there are plans to rent out or sell many of the buildings they have vacated but really what are the chances of that happening anytime soon? If it doesn't happen soon and the Tipping Street buildings end up unoccupied for some time, will the historic County Buildings end up in as bad shape as Staffordshire Place with it glued on fake marble?
 
G

Gareth

Well-Known Forumite
Good post, dismayed myself about this especially the fantastic registrars building, a shame but the thing about Stafford people there was no reaction to this at all. In alot of places when you come across such buildings or areas that are threatened the community all jump in, that was not the case at all here in fact it was all announed and closed without a whimper really and a little piece in a local paper, inside pages-wasn't even making the front page news.

It would be shame to lose those builds, especially with the critics in the press recently about the new registrars.
 
tek-monkey

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Expected them to be snapped up for flats, but from what I understand it'd cost a fortune to do as they are listed. Plus they are meant to be a bugger to heat, and no developer is really rolling in it right now.

If I won the lottery I'd buy them all, imagine owning your own street in town :D
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
So

does unsold property under lease by the SCC mean the SCC budget plans are thrown into turmoil because of interest on interim loans to purchase Staffs Place?
 
Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt

Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt

Well-Known Forumite
Gareth said:
Good post, dismayed myself about this especially the fantastic registrars building, a shame but the thing about Stafford people there was no reaction to this at all. In alot of places when you come across such buildings or areas that are threatened the community all jump in, that was not the case at all here in fact it was all announed and closed without a whimper really and a little piece in a local paper, inside pages-wasn't even making the front page news.

It would be shame to lose those builds, especially with the critics in the press recently about the new registrars.
Click to expand...

You could be onto something here, perhaps this is all just part of a frightening insight into the fact that "the powers that be" in the County Town don't give a flying one for it's heritage -and neither perhaps do its inhabitants. Along with the dilapidation of the Old County Buildings we have already lost loads of historic gems to the wrecking ball and I also note that the Ancient High House is starting to look shall we say a bit shabby on the outside. Unless this is reversed I fear we will start to lose more historic property, perhaps V Quickly.
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
from The Sentinel Duck today

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.u...-Centre-sale/story-16173974-detail/story.html

THE Civic Centre and King's Hall in Stoke are set to be sold off as 2,000 council staff are moved into a £40 million office complex in Hanley.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has unveiled plans to off-load its Stoke headquarters, neighbouring Swann House and up to 40 other buildings across the city.

Workers will move into two purpose-built office blocks in Hanley's Central Business District (CBD), which is being developed on the site of the council's former base at Unity House.

So Stoke follow the Stafford example and pray and hope that someone somewhere will want to buy a mix of crappy office buildings across town whilst borrowing millions of pounds of money to build two new office blocks

Interest rates are low I guess - but for how long?
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
The re fix of the outside panels is due to go on for a few months yet

Cost of fix not on the tax payer

Every panel is being removed - if the panel was fixed on OK in the first place the main contractor Volker pays up. If the panel was not fixed properly the sub contractor pays up

Two panels have fallen off in total


The shop units are 'exepected' to be filled when M and S move to the Riverside plot - depression and sales figures withstanding

Expectations,forcasts, unexpected, expert, where have I heard this groove before?

:urgh:

Anyone mentioned mould yet?
 
C

Confused

Well-Known Forumite
Linky to Staffordshire Place 'extra' 5 months delay story in Express and star:

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012/05/24/repairs-at-staffordshire-county-council’s-38m-hq-to-overrun/

Mould was mentioned on Radio stoke and can be heard on Tuesday's listen again service, 8am and 10am news.

Linky to mould story in Sentinel:

http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Mould-council-offices/story-16162773-detail/story.html

So that the outside knacked and the inside knacked, just needs the roof to be faulty now?
 
wizzard

wizzard

Well-Known Forumite
It also doesn't help with the crazy idea not to install a sprinkler system, who's bright idea was that?
 
henryscat

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
John Marwood said:
So Stoke follow the Stafford example and pray and hope that someone somewhere will want to buy a mix of crappy office buildings across town whilst borrowing millions of pounds of money to build two new office blocks

Interest rates are low I guess - but for how long?
Click to expand...

I thought they'd not long spent a shed load of money refurbishing inside the Civic Centre... and given their continuously parlous financial state I'm amazed they've got any money for anything. They've not got an envious record when it comes to property development with (very) dodgy deals around schools redevelopment, bus station fiasco (with proposed destruction of Coachmakers Arms), and Britannia Stadium (see Private Eye back issues...).

Also, Stoke Civic Centre is well located for the railway station and buses, whereas Hanley is crap for the railway station.

It does strike me that their politicians have decided that they're not going to be outdone.
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
err

they dont have the money for anything - hence the borrowing bit

much like Stafford

Stoke upon Trent - it has never helped itself. Really, it has no idea

Apart from a small few obvious shining examples the populus appears hapy to wallow in the past, always looking inward never beyond Trentham Gardens and that great big cliff at the end of the world - foreign lands

And

It really is impossible to detect where the Gladstone Museum ends and the rest of the city begins
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Kerfuffle

The well know German firm

Yes they

well

my eurovision friend was attending a wedding today

she was apparently in full frock and sausage

the wedding was booked

no mould, no falling panels

just no registrar neeva

two hours later and blessed ones were nuptual connected

I can only imagine the Jenks catering bill will find its way back to Monsieur Nick Bell

Ding Dong

Happy ending anyone?
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
Perhaps he was surveying the new Tixall Cantilever suspension bridge to named after someone who appears on Stafford Wikipedia

No names

No packhorse

nowotta mean guvna
;)
 
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