Forming a gateway between the green belt and the urban area of Yate at the junction of the A432 Badminton Road and Stover Road, the building of the council’s new offices is the biggest and most high-profile example of our drive to deliver better value for money for residents and ensure that every pound of council tax payers’ goes further.
Now complete, these bright and eco-friendly offices will save South Gloucestershire taxpayers an average of £1.3million a year for 60 years – quickly paying off the £31 million cost of constructing the building.
How?
The answer is through ‘prudential borrowing.’ The council borrows the majority of the money needed – so it is not diverted from other projects or services – on the basis that significant savings will be generated upon completion.
The savings - that will result from the new office building - will be achieved through:
- moving out of inefficient buildings and selling some of them
- ending leases on expensive and privately rented offices
- sharing offices with other public sector bodies such as the local NHS.
Self-financing projects like this mean that resources are not diverted from things like school buildings, libraries and sport and leisure projects.
Deputy Chief Executive Dave Perry said: “The building has a key role to play in helping the council to work more efficiently, which frees up resources to further improve local services and keep council tax rises down.”
How?
The building will bring departments together on a single site to improve service delivery. At the same time we are adopting smarter working patterns which means staff will travel around less, work from home more, require less equipment and use fewer resources like paper and ink.
The building has also been designed to meet the council’s commitment to reduced energy consumption and carbon reduction.
How?
By fitting it out with:
- solar panels to heat water
- a bio mass boiler to provide heat
- a rain water harvesting system to provide free water for flushing toilets
- large windows to provide natural light and ventilation