Council building where TV shows filmed up for sale

Hertfordshire County Council said it hoped this would help them save around £9.7m in running costs and generate income through the sale

A former council headquarters where TV shows such as Silo and Grantchester were filmed has been put up for sale to "generate funding for front-line services".

Although most of Hertfordshire County Council's staff now work in a different building in Stevenage, the authority had previously planned to keep some of its old Hertford campus for political meetings.

But now, the new Liberal Democrat-run administration said that since there was "limited interest" in using County Hall as an employment base, it would market it for residential and commercial use.

It hoped this would help it save about £9.7m in running costs, and increase the total value of the potential sale of the site.

Work has now commenced to create new spaces for meetings to take place at the council's Stevenage campus instead.

Earlier in the year, the authority, which was run by the Conservatives at the time, agreed a budget that included savings of £42m for 2025-26.

But in May's local elections, the Liberal Democrats took control and formed a minority administration.

New leader Steve Jarvis promised a 10-point plan to "support those who most need our help and generate funding for front-line services".

At a meeting when the sale of the Hertford headquarters was approved, Jarvis said it was "difficult to justify keeping a building of this size and scale for a very limited number of democratic meetings".

He added he was "conscious of the fact that every time we have a meeting [in Hertford], we ask staff to travel from Stevenage to a building that has no facilities".

As a result, it was decided that a space would be created for council meetings at its Stevenage campus, at a cost of about £800,000, which would be "borrowed in advance".

'Seven upcoming shows'

The old building at County Hall is Grade II listed and has regularly been used as a venue for filming.

TV shows and movies including Silo, The Undertow and Grantchester earned the authority £250,000 across 2023 and 2024, and the building is also due to feature in seven productions on platforms including Netflix and ITV.

The cabinet was told the costs of keeping it open were about £1m a year to cover security and utility costs.

Council deputy chief executive officer Scott Crudgington said that while the venue was a popular location for the film and TV sector, "we are not receiving large parts of these Hollywood blockbuster budgets", and the amount was "nowhere near" covering its running costs.