Doncaster New Civic Offices, CCQ, Waterdale, Cartwright Pickard, Architects, Design, News

Doncaster Civic Offices, Yorkshire : Waterdale Building

Yorkshire Office Building, north England, UK – design by Cartwright Pickard Architects

11 Apr 2008

Doncaster Civic Offices

Design : Cartwright Pickard, Architects

Detailed plans for a key element of Doncasterʼs £300million Civic and Cultural Quarter

(CCQ) have today (Tuesday, 8th June) been approved by the Planning Authority.

Doncasterʼs new civic offices will be located in the heart of the CCQ and become central to plans to transform the Waterdale area of town.

The five-storey, 157,500sqft offices will house most of the councilʼs town centre services on one central site and become home to about 1,400 council staff.

The building also includes a council chamber that will overlook the new civic square and a purpose-built customer service centre on the ground floor.

This new one-stop shop will allow residents to perform their council inquiries in one visit to one location. This service will save residents time and make the council more efficient and effective. Various council partners are also expected to operate from the customer service centre.

The new building will also have strong ‘green’ credentials featuring the latest environmentally friendly technologies. This will make the low carbon offices highly efficient with low running costs.

Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies said: “In bringing all town centre council services into one modern office complex, residents will no longer have to wander between different locations to make inquiries or complete applications. Virtually everything residents want to know or do will be under one roof and this will enable the council to deliver the first class service they deserve.”

Councillor Jonathan Wood, Cabinet Member for Business and Regeneration, said:
“Planning consent for the new civic offices is tremendous news. The new offices will play an important role in the success of Doncasterʼs Civic and Cultural Quarter by drawing people into the area.

“The CCQ is a major regeneration project for the town. As well as delivering new buildings and facilities, the scheme will improve Doncasterʼs image, create jobs and attract new business and investment.”

Dan Needham, Development Director at Muse Developments, said: “The granting of planning consent is another major step forward for the scheme.

“This will be a high quality, energy efficient building which will transform this part of Doncaster town centre and the construction phase will create a significant number of welcome jobs.

“When complete, it will act as a catalyst for the ongoing regeneration of the wider Waterdale area by allowing the redevelopment of the vacated office buildings in future phases, which will further enhance Doncasterʼs offer and help attract new investment and new occupiers to the town.”

Cartwright Pickard Architects Director, Peter Cartwright, said: “We are extremely proud to be contributing to the creation of Doncasterʼs Civic and Cultural Quarter. Our team has designed a building with a strong aesthetic that we hope will become an iconic and integral part of the town. Combined with its technical innovation, we believe the new offices and council chamber will have an incredibly positive impact on the wider Doncaster community.”

Daniel Fell, Head of Policy at Doncaster Chamber, said: “Doncaster Chamber strongly welcomes the development of the Civic and Cultural Quarter. Local businesses often express the wish for a more diverse cultural offer in Doncaster believing that this would be a catalyst to further economic growth. A more mixed cultural offer would, for instance, support local businesses in the recruitment and retention of staff. The new Civic and Cultural Quarter will demonstrate to residents, businesses and investors alike that Doncaster is serious about being a competitive town, with all the assets that entails.”

The new civic offices form part of the first phase of the CCQ project which will also deliver a new public square and new performance venue. A detailed planning application for Doncasterʼs new venue should be submitted for consideration in the coming months.

Construction of the new civic offices is expected to start by the end of the year and should take two years to complete. The developments in the first phase should be open for business in early 2013.

The CCQ project is supported financially by both Central Government and the European Union, as part of the European Regional Development Fundʼs support for the regionʼs economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme.

Doncaster Civic Offices information received Jun 2010

Cartwright Pickard

Location: Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, UK