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Derby City Council is to take nearly 100,000 sq ft of temporary accommodation while the Council House is refurbished, Insider can reveal. The deal, one of the biggest in Derby over the last ten years, will see the council take a new lease for office space at Heritage Gate over an area extending to 99,213 sq ft.

The property deal was negotiated by Nick Hosking, director at Derby commercial property agent Innes England which acted for Aviva Life and Pensions on the deal. He said: “Heritage Gate is one of Derby’s premier multi-let office complexes. The council has been reviewing options for their property strategy for some time. With limited options in the city for that much office space, it was a challenge to find one location where all of the staff could be housed together to maintain an effective way of working while the Council House is refurbished.

“This move will also support the regeneration of Friar Gate, which was historically the office quarter of Derby. Pride Park has tempted many businesses to move away from the city centre core so this temporary relocation will be a catalyst to redefine Friar Gate as a premier office location ahead of Lowbridge’s new development, Friar Gate Square. This will deliver brand new grade A office buildings of 43,300 and 32,200 sq ft in the Friar Gate quarter of the city.”

Councillor Harvey Jennings, leader of Derby City Council, said: “The refurbishment of the Council House is long overdue and it will enable us to provide all our customers and our staff, the majority of whom live in Derby, with a much improved environment.

“The Council House is in desperate need of refurbishment – there is a £14m maintenance backlog on the building and if we continue to occupy the building in its current state that maintenance work would have to be done. Patching the building up won’t make it fit for purpose, though – which is why it makes sense to refurbish and extend the Council House.

“By doing so we save taxpayers significant amounts of money in the long term – by knocking down the internal walls and creating open plan office spaces, we can accommodate three times the number of people in the building, using the same footprint. This means we can move employees out of other inefficient office buildings, reducing the amount we spend on rented office space and on utilities.

“Regenerating the building will create jobs at a time when unemployment is set to rise. It will also set an example of how to redevelop historic buildings in our city centre.”

The 2.36 acre Heritage Gate office site is made up of three buildings. The complex was constructed in the early 1970s and comprises three office buildings - Celtic House, Norman House and Saxon House - which provides some 143,000 sq ft of multi-let office accommodation. Roman House, which was built at the same time and is physically linked to Celtic House, was previously sold off to Derby City Council and remains within its ownership.