Middlesbrough civic centre will move to nearby former call centre

The former call centre brick building will get a £9m refit

Council staff could soon move out of "crumbling" headquarters into a nearby ex-call centre after plans were backed.

It took Middlesbrough leaders less than three minutes to agree to a refit of the three-storey nearby Fountain Court, which would cost £9m to refurbish.

Mayor Andy Preston had shelved plans to move to Centre North East over the £50m bill and said it was a "great way of recycling" an old building.

Staff are forecast to move in 2022, with the refit completed next summer. 

It will see 650 people relocate a few hundred yards from the existing concrete civic centre, which was built in the 1960s, and is likely to be demolished making way for redevelopment.

The past Labour administration had wanted to move staff over to one of the new offices at Centre Square. 

Staff have been working in "poor conditions" at the civic centre

However, Mr Preston, an independent, halted plans after his election in 2019 - with the authority renting out the offices to businesses instead. 

'Expensive defects'

Council reports show the authority paid just shy of £1.85m for Fountain Court after agreeing the purchase in March, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It was initially hoped the revamp of the former call centre would sit within the £5m set aside to fit out One Centre Square. 

But officials now say £7m is needed for the refurbishment - including work to sort out the windows at the Grange Road site. 

Running costs of Fountain Court and the Civic Centre are roughly the same.

However, the civic centre has a £2m maintenance backlog which the council would not need to pay if it upped sticks. 

Councillor Eric Polano, executive member for regeneration, told the chamber on Tuesday a detailed survey had found Fountain Court was in "generally sound condition" but had found a number of "expensive defects". 

"It is therefore requested that an additional £4.438m be added to the budget to address the medium term issues so the building is fitted out to high standard," he said.