Plan to sell offices will save £1.1m, council says

Margaret McMillan Tower has been home to Bradford Council’s children’s services department since 2015

Bradford Council plans to sell one of its office buildings, which it claims will be “one of the most exciting investment opportunities in the city”.

The closure of Margaret McMillan Tower is expected to save the authority £1.1m a year.

Staff will be relocated to City Hall and Britannia House.

Plans to close the multi-storey office building were first announced in late 2022, as part of council budget proposals, but the closure has not yet happened.

While announcing its plans to sell the Prince's Way site, the council said it “could potentially fulfil a number of uses in the future”.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Margaret McMillan Tower, named after the nursery school pioneer, was once the Bradford Central Library.

However, the library was condemned as a fire risk and closed in 2011.

After a £9.3m refurbishment, it was reopened in 2015 as the new home of Bradford Council’s children’s services department.

Standing in front of the building is the Baby of the North statue.

The building also overlooks a major redevelopment scheme which will see Hall Ings pedestrianised and create a new park.

Bradford Council said it regularly reviewed the use of its buildings and this programme would deliver "significant budget savings".

However, Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, planning and transport, said there was still a "bit of work to do yet" before Margaret McMillan Tower was put on the market.

The statement also said Bradford’s City Library was due to move from its current site in City Park to a new location and that “details would follow shortly”.

In August, the council announced it was “exploring options” for the library’s future, as it currently costed £420,000 in rent each year.

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