Nine offices, 200 staff - all moving to one location

The move to the new premises in May - won"t come a day too soon, as far as Council officials are concerned. 'We"ve 200 staff, in nine different offices around town,' says Roibeard O Ceallaigh, Senior Executive Officer.At present, some of the staff in the Council"s own yard are working out of an ancient prefab. 'There"s no privacy for members of the public coming in to do their business or anything,' says Roibeard.That will all change when the move takes place: the new space has been designed with not just the needs of Council staff in mind, but also those of the public who use the Council"s services.While the big move might still be two months away, the Council knows already exactly who will sit at what desk, in what office, on what floor in the new 7,000 square metre building that"s been 18 months under construction.'Everything"s been planned to the very last: we had to know all that to know where the wiring goes, and so on,' he explains.It"s unlikely anyone will have much to complain about, as the new offices are going to be quite stunning - as is already clear from the various vantage points around town from which the new building can be seen.The new building is over four floors which all look down over the large glass-fronted reception area, which itself looks towards the existing Council buildings.The main present 'County Building' which houses the Arts Centre and the County Council members" chamber, will be linked to the new offices, and there are also linkages in to what"s known as 'The Governor"s House' (formerly home of the governor of the prison which originally stood on the site).The Civil Defence stores building is being revamped, and will be available for use as exhibition space; and the town"s library will be moving into a stunning double height room which will provide a lot more space for books - but also a lot more space for the local history section, and for computers.The reception area will be home to two of the Council"s busiest offices - motor tax and housing, as well as to the customer services desk.'90 per cent of our footfall is for those offices,' says Roibeard.As well as the offices, there will be several meeting rooms provided - something the Council staff is really looking forward to.'We used up meeting rooms all the time, so it should be a huge saving in terms of efficiency,' says Roibeard.There will also be meeting rooms for each of the political parties represented on the County Council; and there are training rooms for Council staff as well.In line with today"s 'green' thinking, there are a lot of energy saving measures in place in the new building, the chief one being that besides in the rooms that will house its computer servers, there will be no air conditioning, thanks to the way the building has been designed.'95 per cent of the building is ventilated naturally,' says Roibeard. 'No part of the building is greater than 13 metres deep, so ventilation will keep the air fresh.'We have heaters, but they will only be on for a limited amount of time. For the rest, we"ll be using passive heat and heat recovery methods,' he says, explaining that this will involve 're-use' of the heat generated through the presence of people in rooms, and the heat generated from computers and so on.The building faces southwards, meaning it should benefit greatly from sunlight. At the same time, that much sunlight could, with so much glass about, make working conditions intolerable, both from a heat, and from a 'glare' point of view, so the use has been made of 'glulams' - long exterior beams of glued laminated timber, which are high in strength and stiffness, and which not only have a functional result, but also add to the overall aesthetic.The building will be completely disabled-friendly, and so too, for the first time, will be the Council Chambers, which will now be accessible by a lift.As part of the overall project, the present main County Building - with the exception of the areas occupied by the Arts Centre - has been vacated, to allow for a complete revamp there too.The County Building was built in the early 1900s, but when the present Councillors assemble there in May, for their final meeting as a team before the June local elections, their chamber will have changed beyond recognition.The heavy old furniture that was in use there is being replaced by modern furniture, and the orientation of the seating is to be altered. No need to worry about the old Council furniture being wasted: already new homes have been found for some of that, including at Belvedere House, says Roibeard.Entry to the Council offices will no longer be through the present County Building: entry will now be through what was part of the Council"s carparking space, an area that will, when construction is complete, become a 'civic space', and that will ultimately blend in with the 'Central' area when Bennett Developments complete work on their massive multi-million shopping and retail complex, although it"s acknowledged that, given the current financial crisis, and the retail slow-down, it may take longer to see that project finished than was originally envisaged.The Council is delighted with progress on the County Buildings. It was only in 2003/2004 that the Council started seeking a design/build contractor for the project, and construction by the local firm, Bennett Construction (of which Bennett Developments is a division) got underway in June 2007.As part of the works being done, an access road has been constructed to the rear of the building to serve the Council - but also ultimately to serve as access to the 'Central' project.Among the aims of the Council for when construction and the move into the new offices is complete, is to decide, says Roibeard, on a location for what"s known within the Council as 'The Christy Kiernan Collection' - a number of very fine art works amassed for the Council by the late Christy Kiernan, who was a long-time staff member.There is something of a buzz among staff now that they know the move to the new offices is within sight.'They were afraid to get excited for a long time, afraid it mightn"t happen, because apparently, it was talked about for years,' laughs Roibeard.