New Civic Offices

On Friday afternoon, I was delighted to attend a tour of the Borough Council’s new Civic Offices in Addlestone. Whilst construction problems have delayed the move to the new offices by several months, it was well worth the wait.

The present Civic Offices (which were constructed in 1968 with a shelf-life of only 25 years) are, to put it charitably, dark, dank, decrepit and depressing. The bright, airy, spacious and open plan new offices will undeniably prove to be a much better working environment for the Council’s staff.

The most impressive part of the building is undoubtedly the new Safer Runnymede Control Centre; a room whose careful design and use of state-of-the-art technology resembles both the deck of the Starship Enterprise and a Westend nightclub. In conjunction with EGVRA, I will be organising a visit to the facility in the next couple of months.

The atrium of the Civic Offices

I explore the yet-to-be-furnished first floor of the building!

Cllr Yvonna Lay tries out the furniture…

The new Runnymede Council Chamber.

The first Council meeting to be held in the new offices will be the Planning Committee on 14th May followed by Annual Council on 15th May where Cllr Jim Broadhead will be installed as Mayor with Cllr Paul Tuley as his Deputy.

Thanks to Cllr Elaine Gill for allowing me to post these photographs on this blog.