COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Six council buildings will be demolished and relocated to a new £5million hub to save taxpayers hundreds and thousands of pounds



Coventry City Council will create a flash new home for its CCTV and alarm monitoring centre, ICT hub, waste teams and more at Whitley Depot in London Road.

The new building will see heating and lighting controlled by a smart management system to minimise energy consumption and staff could be in as early as April 2020.

It comes after a review of the council's property portfolio found its current buildings at Whitley Depot and Jackson Road are too old and costly to keep running.

The council says consolidating the services will provide ongoing savings of £227,000.

And the plans will also see more burial space provided at St Paul's Cemetery as land is freed up on the Jackson Road site.

Councillors approved the new building and approved the demolition of the existing building at Jackson Road to allow the land to be used as additional burial space at a meeting on Tuesday [April 10].

Whitley Depot is the council's main operational site and includes waste operation, street cleaning, highways and drainage services, among others.

It dates back to the 1960s and currently comprises 14 different buildings including two submerged fuelling stations, a weigh bridge and a concealed pond.

The Jackson Road site comprises a secure CCTV and alarm monitoring area, ICT hub, a collection of small offices, a poison store and kennelling for stray dogs.

The council considered three options; continuing to maintain and use the existing buildings at both sites, refurbishing the existing Whitley Depot administration building, or building the new open place office.

The total cost of the scheme is £5.1million.

Relocating the ICT hub from the Jackson Road site will cost £750,000, but the council has already put aside £500,000 within its ICT capital programme, so £4.6million is needed for the project.

The authority insists the development will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds in the long run.

And refurbishing the existing administration building at Whitley Depot is also fraught with difficulties.

A large of amount asbestos was discovered which would be expensive to remove

The authority insists the development will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds in the long run.