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The new Wembley Stadium and Arena will, in four years time, be joined by a new development on the site, a civic centre for Brent LBC's 1,250 staff. Michael Burton reports on how the new offices, drawing on sustainable principles, form part of an ambitious efficiency and regeneration programme. The challenge for local government facing the looming spending squeeze is not simply how to find savings, but how to protect and, if necessary, even improve services at the same time. Brent LBC is taking this twin-tracked approach by aiming to reduce back-office costs while also embarking on an ambitious regeneration programme. It has no plans to cut frontline services, but has set a target of cutting £50m over four years from its budget, part of which will be delivered through its property strategy of relocating its civic centre. The council, which covers a suburban area of north-west London, currently occupies a 1930s town hall which has long outgrown the needs of its staff. The current offices can only provide space for 300 people, with other council staff scattered across the borough. The plan is to relocate to a new civic centre next to Wembley Arena which, as well as housing 1,250 staff, will also be a community hub – a place for the public to meet – rather than simply civic offices. The council has already bought the site, currently a car park covering two-and-a-half acres. During its construction, starting in 2011, the £60m project will also provide local jobs, with local labour clauses inserted into building contracts. Brent's chief executive, Gareth Daniel, says the project is ‘cost neutral, and won't cost local taxpayers a penny', since the new centre will be funded by the sale of the old. He says that while the council intends driving through its own efficiency savings up to 2014, restructuring across London could achieve even more. ‘If we started from here, we wouldn't have 33 separate authorities, but no-one has the bottle to reduce the number of boroughs.For example, there's no reason to have separate transport fleets across different agencies. ‘And why do we need 33 different refuse services? We must look at the other end of the telescope.' Gareth intends to make the savings ‘without damaging jobs or services', and adds: ‘I think it's do-able but not by doing business as usual. We need to seriously reshape services, with more shared operations and an external review of the staffing. ‘The scale of the financial challenge means we must be more serious about joint working which, so far, we've just dabbled in. But there are big cultural hurdles. The physical move to a new civic centre in 2013 will also set a different cultural tone. ‘We're using the physical move to change the culture of the organisation,' he says. ‘All departments will be on a single site for the first time, and we'll be one organisation. The new building will be the centrepiece of the community.' The new civic centre is part of the Wembley Regeneration Area and will act as a second catalyst following the Arena. Gareth says: ‘We're looking for an outstanding sustainability rating for the centre. It'll be a flexible building without cellular offices, but with hot-desking and remote working. We want to get away from this idea that council managers spend their time at their desks.' The civic centre will form part of a revived quarter, with a luxury hotel, shops and leisure facilities constructed on redundant and under-used commercial land. Public transport is core to the proposals around the stadium, and £80m has been invested to upgrade and improve transport and infrastructure with a capacity of 50,000 passengers an hour to and from Wembley Park, Wembley Stadium and Wembley Central stations. Event tickets state that car parking is not available unless pre-booked. The stadium itself will have a role in the 2012 Olympics, hosting some of the football tournaments.

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ECONOMIC GROWTH

Scoring a hat trick

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