Demolition of Durham County Coucil's County Hall headquarters expected to cost £5m

Spending plans for the next financial year, 2021/22, have set aside £500,000 for the work, which is due to pave the way for a major new business park on the Aykley Heads site.

But county bosses have admitted this is just the tip of the iceberg, with further cash expected to be sunk into the project over the coming years.

“It’s about 14 years since the cost of asbestos removal from County Hall was estimated to be £500,000 a floor,” said independent opposition councillor John Shuttleworth.

“The former highways lab [also previously on the Aykley Heads site] cost £1.4 million to demolish, and that was after the asbestos was removed – County Hall is five times the size.”

Cllr Shuttleworth was speaking at yesterday’s (Wednesday, February 10) meeting of Durham County Council’s ruling cabinet, which was held by videolink and broadcast via YouTube.

According to a report for the committee, demolition of the council HQ is expected to start next summer (2022).

It added ‘salvageable material’ from the building, such as aluminium window frames and parquet floors, could offset some of the costs.

But this was rubbished by Cllr Shuttleworth, who claimed proximity to asbestos could render much of it worthless.

Responding, deputy council leader Alan Napier said: “The original outline business case for the new headquarters demonstrated that remaining on the Aykley Heads site and trying to improve it to meet modern requirements was by far the most expensive option, with estimated costs of £76.5 million.

“But, crucially, [this] would also have inhibited the ability to open up the site as a strategic employment site, with all the benefits.

“I can confirm the £500,000 included in the capital budget for 2022/23 is not the full demolition budget – [this] covers the initial preparatory work required for the demolition of County Hall only.

“The total estimated budget provision required for the demolition of County Hall, including the removal of asbestos is circa £5 million.”

Work on the county council’s new HQ on the site of the former Sands car park, in Durham City, started in 2019.

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