The Welsh Government will have spent more than £16.5 million on refurbishing its Cathays Park building in Cardiff by the beginning of next April, new figures show.
During the past three years the total annual spend on the offices has exceeded £4 million, with a further £3.7 million projected spend for 2011/12. The costs have been released to the Welsh Conservatives, who have questioned the amount of public money being used in the current economic climate.
Ministers have hit back at the claims, stressing Cathays Park is the largest single occupied building in Wales – and money spent on it had benefited the construction industry.
But the leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Assembly Andrew RT Davies said he had “real concerns” over efficiency and value for money at the site. He said: “There are untold numbers of businesses in Wales that would benefit from financial support, yet Labour is busy splashing out bags of taxpayers’ cash on its civil servants’ offices.”
The Cathays Park complex, which once belonged to the Welsh Office before devolution, houses 2,300 staff. It consists of two buildings – Cathays Park 1, a Grade II listed building opened in 1938, and the more modern Cathays Park 2, completed in 1979.
According to the Welsh Conservatives’ figures, in 2008/09 £4.01 million was spent on the refurbishing the offices – with subsequent years costing £4.5 million and £4.37 million. Projected costs for 2011/12 are forecast at £3.7 million.
Mr Davies added he had particular concerns about the figures given that a multimillion-pound refurbishment programme was publicly shelved after “being seriously considered by Labour” in 2009, despite the recession.
The Welsh Government justified its spending on Cathays Park, saying much of the expenditure was on “essential health and safety work”, as well as making the building more sustainable and reducing its carbon footprint. It said that by vacating 18 buildings, cutting journeys to meetings and using video conferences it had exceeded its targets to cut carbon emissions by 10% last year.
A government spokesman said: “All projects will have gone through strict procurement procedures to ensure value for money. Investment in our estate will benefit the construction sector and other local businesses.
“Over the next five years, our plans to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our estate will generate cumulative savings of over £18 million – bringing annual running cost savings in excess of £5.3 million from 2015.”
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