One of South Lanarkshire Council ’s main buildings is set to close as the reintroduction of staff working arrangements looks to free up floorspace.
Employees based at Montrose House in Hamilton are expected to be relocated to council Headquarters on Almada Street.
It comes as the local authority set out its COVID-19 recovery arrangements to ensure all public services are provided safely in line with any remaining restrictions in place.
Part of the plans include the permanent implementation of some revised service and working arrangements which were put in place over the past 18 months.
These were things such as virtual meetings, working from home, virtual customer contact handling and increased partnership with community groups. Such arrangements were identified as being efficient and effective therefore suitable to be made permanent.
SLC’s report notes that as restrictions have eased, there is now a potential for increasing employee numbers to return to office accommodation, however the default position remains that those who can continue to work from home should do so for the foreseeable.
The number of employees able to attend the office at any time is dependent upon the accommodation and also the mitigation measures that can be put in place to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
One of the outcomes of this is the reduction of floorspace needed for council workers, allowing either the disposal of surplus property or alternatively freeing up space that can be offered to other partner organisations.
At present, Montrose House in Hamilton is in the progress of closing with employees primarily being relocated to headquarters commencing towards the end of 2021 and completing in the early part of 2022, reducing the running costs of the property estate and free up this property for disposal.
Furthermore, advance discussions are also underway with a partner organisation with an interest in utilising the vacant space in Brandongate, Hamilton.
The purpose of the council's COVID response report is to highlight the reintroduction of services which were restricted or halted due to restrictions in place during the pandemic, particularly during lockdowns.
The measures taken to minimise the spread of the virus had a significant impact on the work of the council and providing public services to local communities.
Going forward, SLC will continue to monitor the situation of COVID-19 and infection levels which could potentially cause services to be restricted in future.
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