Bill for council headquarters revamp hits £1m

Norwich City Council set aside £750,000 for a redesign of City Hall in October 2024

Nearly £1m has already been spent on designs for a potential revamp of a council's historic headquarters.

The proposals would see Norwich City Council's grade-II listed building extended to its rear, to house a new courtyard with a hotel complex, offices or flats.

Last year, the authority agreed to set aside £750,000 to fund initial design work for the plans for City Hall and an outline business case.

But a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that spending had already reached £998,000 by the end of last month.

The Labour-run council has said it wants to make the building "fit for purpose for the future".

The FOI response shows the authority has spent £387,000 on designs, £202,000 on an outline business case, and £191,000 on further scoping work.

An additional £141,000 went on a strategic outline business case and spatial framework, £62,000 for site surveys, and £15,000 on a strategic brief – with the money spent between October 2023 and June 2025.

Councillor Lucy Galvin questioned the level on spending on the proposals

Green councillor Lucy Galvin welcomed plans to make more use of a building she said had "been half-vacant, inaccessible and underused by the community it was built to serve".

But with the planned local government reorganisation – which will lead to the council being abolished – she said there were questions over how much money was being spent:

"The ongoing confusion around changes to local government make it very difficult to be sure of value for money, and this needs careful scrutiny to be sure that scarce resources are being spent wisely."

City Hall has been the seat of local government in Norwich since 1938.

The council has said the layout of the building is "outdated and inefficient", with less than half of it used as workspace, and the rest reserved for meetings and storage.

Under the revamp proposals, the building would be extended to the rear for office, hotel, or residential use - along with a public courtyard.

City Hall in Norwich is the council headquarters but part of it could be converted into a hotel

The council previously said its activities would remain based at City Hall, but this is now uncertain amid plans for local government reorganisation, which could result in Norfolk's eight councils being dissolved and replaced by fewer authorities.

A spokesperson for Norwich City Council said proposals to "make City Hall fit for purpose in the future" would be presented in the autumn.

"These proposals are still being worked through and will take into account the findings of our public survey and the impact of the local government review," they added.

"What is not in doubt is City Hall's listed status and its role as a city landmark which will serve the people of Norwich and Norfolk for years to come."