Wolverhampton Civic Centre's £22m revamp approved

Work at the site would be completed by 2020, the council said

A £22m revamp of Wolverhampton's Civic Centre is to go ahead after plans were approved by the city council.

The project will include major work on three storeys and a scheme to make sure the car park underneath, which will be closed for a year, is safe.

Work would be completed by 2020, the authority said.

It is part of a wider programme to reduce the number of council-owned buildings from 20 to four.

The local authority has recently faced huge financial pressures. Last year it warned it could become insolvent and in March 2015 agreed £46m of cuts by 2019.

Cabinet member for resources Andrew Johnson said the civic centre had "reached the end of its realistic life in terms of mechanical and electrical maintenance".

He said even taking into account costs of loan repayments, rationalising the number of buildings would save £500,000 a year.

About 2,000 staff will eventually work in four buildings, including the 37-year-old civic centre.