Published at 15:50, Wednesday, 15 December 2010
ONE of Whitehaven’s most prominent buildings is in the process of being sold – but for the time being the prospective buyer remains a mystery.
Union Hall, on the corner of Scotch Street/Lowther Street, closed in September as part of the county council’s “better places to work” scheme.
For many years the imposing Grade II listed building housed the county council’s local education headquarters. It has stood empty for the last three months since staff moved to the harbourside’s Blencathra House.
Cumbria County Council confirmed this week that Union Hall had been sold “subject to contract” but the name of the buyer was commercially sensitive until the sale was complete. Negotiations are expected to be finalised in the near future.
As Union Hall is a 19th century listed property it would be subject to stringent planning conditions for any proposed development or change of use.
Other county council premises, including those at Egremont and Distington, have been vacated in a move to make staff “more flexible and mobile” while capitalising assets in a scheme designated to save millions of pounds county wide.
Whitehaven has been chosen to pioneer the scheme with the result that more than 200 staff, many of those from social services, have been transferred into Blencathra House, former home of the Inland Revenue.
Other staff have moved from another of Whitehaven’s oldest buildings, the 18th century Somerset House, which eventually will either be sold or leased.
But for the time being Somerset House will serve as “the public face of the county council in Whitehaven” dealing with inquiries.
There is no public access to Blencathra House where the county council says staff are being introduced to new ways of working such as ‘hot-desking’, which means either working in the office or remotely.
County council leader Eddie Martin explained: “We have too many buildings which are old, expensive to maintain and energy hungry. One of the key aims of our property project is to improve services while decreasing the cost of accommodation. Blencathra House is something of a pathfinder for how we hope to rationalise the use of all our buildings.”
Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk
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