Staffordshire Place

1JKz

Well-Known Forumite
The new Stafford Council building is in my opinion a great result, I'm sure, like me, many people thought Stafford Place would go ahead and look like every other new build in so called clone towns but this is actually a fantastic looking development.

This shows that the council can make the correct decisions when it comes to new development, which has a sensitive approach to it's surrounding area, I will be glad if the council continues this direction with the many new planned upgrades for Stafford.

...I hope that this council building has a longer shelf life than 30 years, unlike it's predecessor!
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
57mph said:
The new Stafford Council building is in my opinion a great result, I'm sure, like me, many people thought Stafford Place would go ahead and look like every other new build in so called clone towns but this is actually a fantastic looking development.

This shows that the council can make the correct decisions when it comes to new development, which has a sensitive approach to it's surrounding area, I will be glad if the council continues this direction with the many new planned upgrades for Stafford.

...I hope that this council building has a longer shelf life than 30 years, unlike it's predecessor!

57mph
Which council building built 30 years ago is being replaced by this new one?

I showed a photo to an American friend of mine and she asked if it was jail! Personally, its not a good enough design for me and the use of yellow cladding in a town which is traditional a red brick town is just strange.
 

1JKz

Well-Known Forumite
true enough, and that can apply to us all and everything in life but fair enough point.

i'm going to take a punt and say this place will look good for atleast 10 years, after that the look of the facade in 10 years is anyones guess.

I work in the Chubb building in Wolverhampton and have seen the new bus station come together (over the last 2 or so years) and a new build along side it, so am pretty much comparing StaffordshirePlace with the one i see each and every working day and well, Staffordshire Place is simply lovely, not a red brick in sight!
 

1JKz

Well-Known Forumite
was the council building it is replacing not built approx 30 years ago, have i got me facts wrong, wouldn't be the first time!



haa, my partner said the exact same thing, it looks like a prison.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
>The new Stafford Council building is in my opinion a great result

Sounds like you're a spin doctor that has been sent on here to try to create some positive spin on what is a rather expense lavish development in these troubled times.

£40k alone was spent on the granite balls outside the building.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Irrespective of any architectural merits; at a time when the nation faces austerity the like of which has not been seen for decades and high levels of unemployment (including redundancies at SCC) it would seem foolish at best and and darn right idiotic to many people that the council deemed spending such a large sum of our money on this project as essential.

Maybe the money could have been better spent on keeping council job, or reintroducing weekly bin collection, or improving front-line services, or maintaining the roads better etc etc...
 

Jonah

Spouting nonsense since the day I learned to talk
57mph said:
was the council building it is replacing not built approx 30 years ago, have i got me facts wrong, wouldn't be the first time!



haa, my partner said the exact same thing, it looks like a prison.
Which building are you talking about?


The only council building that I can remember being built about 30 years ago is the Civic Centre at Riverside. That building is Stafford Borough Council and not Staffordshire County Council.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
gilesjuk said:
Sounds like you're a spin doctor that has been sent on here to try to create some positive spin on what is a rather expense lavish development in these troubled times.
.
57mph says they work at the Chubb Building at Wolves - so which bit of the County Council is based there then?
 

ATJ

Well-Known Forumite
henryscat said:
gilesjuk said:
Sounds like you're a spin doctor that has been sent on here to try to create some positive spin on what is a rather expense lavish development in these troubled times.
.
57mph says they work at the Chubb Building at Wolves - so which bit of the County Council is based there then?
Come on, be reasonable. Everyone knows that if you have anything positive to say about Staffordshire County Council, you must work for them.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
John said:
Irrespective of any architectural merits; at a time when the nation faces austerity the like of which has not been seen for decades and high levels of unemployment (including redundancies at SCC) it would seem foolish at best and and darn right idiotic to many people that the council deemed spending such a large sum of our money on this project as essential.

Maybe the money could have been better spent on keeping council job, or reintroducing weekly bin collection, or improving front-line services, or maintaining the roads better etc etc...
The amount of money spent on a new office has to be put into context by: the amount of income generated by flogging off redundant buildings and the amount saved by not running old inefficient clapped out buildings. Seeing as you declare the new offices a waste of money, I assume you have the figures back that view....?

Bringing a big workforce right into the middle of town should have economic benefit through a multiplier effect. Any evidence to the contrary?

As regards bin collection, the Borough Council collect bins, so that is utterly irrelevant. But seeing as you mention it - there is a weekly bin collection, albeit different bins get collected on alternate weeks. If its a weekly green bin collection you want, there's no justification for it and your council tax bill would almost certainly go up if there was a weekly green bin collection.

As for maintaining roads, didn't the new administration shovel a huge wadge of cash into that? There is a limit to how much you can spend on roads, and lets face it roads in this country aren't badly maintained in the scale of things.
 

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
John said:
Irrespective of any architectural merits; at a time when the nation faces austerity the like of which has not been seen for decades and high levels of unemployment (including redundancies at SCC) it would seem foolish at best and and darn right idiotic to many people that the council deemed spending such a large sum of our money on this project as essential.

Maybe the money could have been better spent on keeping council job, or reintroducing weekly bin collection, or improving front-line services, or maintaining the roads better etc etc...
The Nation is not facing austerity, just occassionally glancing at it

For the time being
 

Withnail

Well-Known Forumite
57mph said:
The new Stafford Council building is in my opinion a great result...

...I hope that this council building has a longer shelf life than 30 years, unlike it's predecessor!
John Marwood said:
There are other comments on this elsewhere int forum

Appen
Like here for one - though many more are dotted about.

big-blue-wolf said:
Which building are you talking about?


The only council building that I can remember being built about 30 years ago is the Civic Centre at Riverside. That building is Stafford Borough Council and not Staffordshire County Council.
Indeed, one can only assume it's the Civic Centre that is referred to, as documented here - changes are afoot, but the building has life in it yet (more's the pity) - so common a misappropriation is made between Borough and County councils is there that, though entirely understandable, it becomes extraordinarily tiresome to those that actually do appreciate (appreciate - is this right?) the difference.

John said:
Irrespective of any architectural merits; at a time when the nation faces austerity the like of which has not been seen for decades and high levels of unemployment (including redundancies at SCC) it would seem foolish at best and and darn right idiotic to many people that the council deemed spending such a large sum of our money on this project as essential.
a) Architectural merits should never be brought out of perspective
b) Austerity and Unemployment may well have been staved off for some, on the back of the workforce living, breathing and spending en ville
c) Having committed to the building, and i admit i'm on unsteady ground on this particular build, it can actually become comparably expensive not to build as to do so, if the contract has been signed off.

henryscat said:
The amount of money spent on a new office has to be put into context by: the amount of income generated by flogging off redundant buildings and the amount saved by not running old inefficient clapped out buildings.
This is something that almost everyone will overlook - the money generated by the sell-off will probably be less than will have originally been envisaged, but nonetheless, the savings made by the running costs of a modern, well designed, energy-concious building more than compensate.

There was another point i would have liked to have made but it has escaped me - there has been quite a lot of comment about this build, cropping up in unlikely places;


henryscat said:
gilesjuk said:
Sounds like you're a spin doctor that has been sent on here to try to create some positive spin on what is a rather expense lavish development in these troubled times.
57mph says they work at the Chubb Building at Wolves - so which bit of the County Council is based there then?
ATJ said:
Come on, be reasonable. Everyone knows that if you have anything positive to say about Staffordshire County Council, you must work for them.
it may have been the likelihood of being accused of being a SCC apologist - if so then no, i don't work for them.
 

1JKz

Well-Known Forumite
some great responses!

Henryscat and Withnail have some constructive stuffs to say, nice one chaps.

gilesjuk and atj, funny or what.

The money has been spent now so all i was stating is my thoughts of the design of the building.

1JKz,
Council planner,
New Build,
Council man
Council street
The Council, Stafford
COU CN1L

upps!
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
John Marwood said:
The Nation is not facing austerity, just occassionally glancing at it
I never had you down as a 'glass half full' sort of chap :P


57mph said:
57mph,
Council planner,
New Build,
Council man
Council street
The Council, Stafford
COU CN1L
LOL :D
 

United57

Well-Known Forumite
henryscat said:
The amount of money spent on a new office has to be put into context by: the amount of income generated by flogging off redundant buildings and the amount saved by not running old inefficient clapped out buildings. Seeing as you declare the new offices a waste of money, I assume you have the figures back that view....?

Bringing a big workforce right into the middle of town should have economic benefit through a multiplier effect. Any evidence to the contrary?
I can certainly support that getting rid of clapped out buildings and saving in the long term. Hopefully the new building will not be clapped out in 10 years. it will certainly be more efficient.

The issue is what to do with the clapped out buildings ?

Another issue is bringing in a large workforce and the impact on transport. I hope the council encorages puplic transport?

I also hope the council looks at ways of allowing some staff to work from home based locations. Unfortunately many councils do not like this. Certainly helps with the environment. Not all meetings have to be face to face we have conference calling and web based video.

There are tools out there to allow secure login to computer systems. Again many IT departments in councils get very uptight about this.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Of course the buildings wouldn't be so expensive to maintain if they weren't listed, I'm fairly sure the college had a choice of just two window manufacturers and very limited designs when it came to replacing Tenterbanks. I have no idea what the state of the inside of the old council buildings was like, but I expect big iron radiators etc.
 
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