The new civic centre constructed by Harrogate Borough Council cost the taxpayer at least £17m, The Stray Ferret can reveal. 

From its choice of an expensive round building to opting to use a highly valuable piece of land, the council wasted millions of pounds of public money. 

The council argued at the time that it offered value for money. Our investigation shows that, because the potential value of the land at Knapping Mount was never fully revealed, taxpayers were not given a true picture of the overall costs involved. 

Over the next few days, we will investigate: 

• A building which cost millions – but will be very difficult to sell 
• A site which could have been hugely valuable if sold 
• Other options dismissed as too expensive, but full details have never been revealed 
• A site put forward at the time which would have saved £7 million 
• Continuing concerns over issues including parking 
• The savings promised by the council would have been achieved on any other site 

The new civic centre at Knapping Mount

It is our belief that the council chose Knapping Mount because it wanted to create a landmark building in the town centre.  

Now, with a true picture of the costs, the taxpayer can decide: was the new civic centre worth it? 

How did it cost £17m?

The contract awarded to builder Harry Fairclough Ltd for the construction was worth £11.5m.  

The final bill has not been settled: the contractor – now in administration – believes the council should pay more, but HBC views £11.5m as the fixed cost. 

The Stray Ferret has conducted an investigation into the value of the land on which it was built. We believe that value is at least £4.5m.   

On top of that, almost £400,000 was spent on furniture. Total costs for flooring, IT infrastructure and other essential fittings have never been confirmed and could add even more to the cost.

A total spend of £865,000 was approved in 2013 for appointing a professional design team and for design, pre-planning and project costs. 

The unique round design of the new civic centre would have added a significant amount to the cost of the project. Experts have told The Stray Ferret that a curved design can add an average of 20% to the build cost. 

That all means that the total cost of the project was more than £17.2m. 

Read more on our investigation: 

• Expensive design choice as HBC sought to ‘express the nature of democracy’ 
• Better value option dismissed as council pursued town centre base 

Why was Knapping Mount so valuable?

Historically Knapping Mount was designated employment land because it had council offices on it.  

In 2014, though, the site had been earmarked for 52 homes in documents being prepared for the council’s Local Plan. That meant the land would have got planning permission for housing, and its value would have shot up. 

Yet, as it worked out the costs for its new civic centre, HBC chose not to explore this. It could have applied for formal planning permission and then had the land valued. Without this information it could move to Knapping Mount without having to be clear about capital it could have raised from the sale of the land.   

The Knapping Mount site, off Kings Road, before the new civic centre was built

A letter from Harrogate Civic Society to HBC in 2013 clearly shows the potential value was raised before any decision was made: 

“We have obviously had no access to confidential property reports but have concerns that only a boutique hotel use is mentioned for Crescent Gardens, no apparent appreciation of Scotsdale as apartments or Springfield House as a budget hotel in cooperation with Holiday Inn or appraisal of the fact that Knapping Mount and Brandreth House form the most valuable residential site in the Council portfolio.” 

In its own documents assessing the site, HBC said that building on Knapping Mount meant the loss of a “significant capital receipt” – but never went into detail about just how much that could have been.  

In a request under the Freedom of Information Act, The Stray Ferret discovered that the council last had the land valued at the end of 2017. That valuation was £1.83m – but it was no longer earmarked as housing land and the civic centre had already been built.  

Our question is: why didn’t the council properly value the land for housing before the move and make that value public? 

How did we get a figure of £4.5m for the land?

After talking to experts and making comparisons with sites nearby we have put a figure of £4.5m on the land. Throughout our investigation, we have sought expert opinion and always opted for a conservative estimate.  

The nearby Springfield Court, at the junction of Kings Road and Springfield Avenue, was sold in 2017 for £4.835m with permission to convert its offices into 35 two-bedroom apartments. That development now has an extra 26 flats being built taking the total number of apartments there to 61. 

Knapping Mount, which is twice that size, was earmarked for 52 dwellings in 2014. Those properties could have been either apartments or houses and a developer could have chosen, like Springfield Court, to build higher and apply for permission to add more flats. Of those, 40% would have been designated affordable housing, and the site is in a conservation area, both of which affect its value.  

With advice from local experts, we have conservatively put a figure of £4.5m on the land.  

While the council could argue this was not a cost because it already owned the land, the fact remains that they could have sold it and banked the cash. 

But that’s not all we have found. In the next of our series of reports, we show how an expensive design bumped up the cost – and how they could have done it all for millions less.

Next:

• Council chose expensive design to ‘express the nature of democracy’

The bespoke circular design of Harrogate Borough Council’s new civic centre could have cost taxpayers an extra £2m. 

Speaking to The Stray Ferret, several local architects and quantity surveyors have estimated that curved design adds anywhere between 15 and 35% to the cost of building. Conservatively, we have estimated 20% for the additional cost at Knapping Mount.

The contract with builders Harry Fairclough Ltd was awarded for £11.5m. Using the 20% uplift indicated by experts, a more conventional design for the same square footage could have come in closer to £9.5m. 

Not only that, but the unique design of the building has made it very difficult to extend compared to a rectangular building. 

What were the reasons for that choice? In its planning application, HBC rather grandly said: 

“The circular plan form derives from a number of influences including the desire to express the nature of democracy and local government through a circular debating room which is located at the centre of the building.” 

It talked about creating a ‘one council’ culture through working in one place, serving as a main civic hub for the district, and said the design was influenced by a need to offer “good value and careful use of public money”. 

Read more on this investigation:

• Exclusive: Stray Ferret investigation reveals true cost of new civic centre
• Council rejected business park option that would have saved £7m

Why are round buildings so expensive?

Architects who spoke to The Stray Ferret said there are several reasons why curved construction is a more expensive choice. 

Each aspect of the build becomes more complex, from inserting square objects such as doors into rounded walls, to joining walls together and ensuring a watertight finish. 

Then the furnishings come into play. Flooring for a circular room is more expensive because there is more waste, while specialist furniture is needed to make the most of the space – otherwise, standard furniture leaves awkward, unusable areas.

At Harrogate’s civic centre, an astonishing 27 CCTV cameras are in place to monitor all the building’s facets, compared to just three in the district’s public parks. 

An architect’s drawing of Harrogate’s new civic centre

Local specialists who spoke to The Stray Ferret said it is much harder to use space efficiently in a room with curved walls, leading to a larger square footage being required to accommodate the same number of staff as a rectangular building.

One expert described the civic centre’s design as “ludicrous”. He told The Stray Ferret that the new civic centre is so bespoke that it would be hard to adapt for another purpose, leaving question marks over its potential resale value if it is no longer needed.

In the third part of our investigation, we look at what other options were available to the council – and how much less it could have cost the taxpayer.

Next:

• The dismissed alternatives – including one which could have saved £7m

In the third part of our investigation into the cost of Harrogate Borough Council’s civic centre, we examine how the council has publicly justified the decisions it made – and that cheaper options were set aside in favour of a town centre location.  

HBC has always framed the new civic centre as offering good value to taxpayers. In this report, we will explore the way the council has justified the money it spent and reveal that another option it dismissed would have come in at around £7m less.  

How the council justified Knapping Mount

In 2014, before the decision to move was made, a Conservative campaign leaflet stated that £9m was the gross figure and, following sales, the council expected the project to cost £5m.  

Taken from a Conservative leaflet distributed to local households in 2014

The final sentence of Cllr Cooper’s quote is particularly interesting:

“This consultation takes the politics out of the argument and gives the full facts.”

It later emerged £11.5m was the value of the contract awarded to the builder.  

HBC said that was always the ‘gross’ cost. The ‘net’ cost was £11.5m minus the income it made from selling its other buildings.

The leaflet distributed by the ruling Conservative party says otherwise.

What did the council sell to fund the move?

In moving to Knapping Mount, Harrogate Borough Council sold the following properties: 

• Crescent Gardens – £4m 
• Scottsdale House – £1.9m 
• Victoria Park House – £1.2m 

The total receipts for those came to £7.1m.  So according to the council’s argument, Knapping Mount actually only cost £4.4m to the taxpayer.   

Yet the cost of any commercial project is always the cost of the build plus the value of the land. Regardless of what was sold, how it was funded or what they offset to make it look cheaper, HBC spent £11.5m on the build and used a site worth £4.5m. 

Using their own logic, the council could have sold Knapping Mount with planning permission for housing and added that money to the pot, giving an income of £11.6m.

The alternatives

At the outset of the project, HBC commissioned a report into the options available. As well as staying in its existing offices, it considered buildings and sites around Harrogate. 

However, the full details of those sites have never been released. A summary document was presented to the cabinet for consideration, referring to a number of sites and costs including: 

• Hornbeam Park – £11.3m 
• Beckwith Knowle – £9m or £17m 
• Pannal – £20.5m 

How these figures were calculated – and which specific sites or buildings they referred to – has never been revealed.  

What is evident from the report, however, is that, alongside its aim of bringing all staff onto one site, HBC was determined to maintain a town centre presence.  

The same report also recognised the high potential value of Knapping Mount, but HBC opted not to realise this. In recommending to build on the site, with an indicated cost of £13 to £13.7m, it says: 

“Retaining the site does mean the loss of a significant capital receipt.” 

Read more on this investigation:

• Exclusive: Stray Ferret investigation reveals true cost of new civic centre
• Council chose round design to ‘express nature of democracy’

£7m to stay in the town centre

Another site at Hornbeam Park was offered to the council in August 2014 – more than a year before work began at Knapping Mount – at a total cost in the region of £10.5m. Two hectares of land would have cost around £1.5m and a rectangular build of the same square footage as the civic centre would have been no more than £9m, even for a high-spec finish. 

We would like to make it clear that Chris Bentley, from Hornbeam Park Developments Ltd, is a supporter of The Stray Ferret but has no involvement in any editorial decisions taken by this publication. For more information, click here. All information given to us for this report was assessed and included on its own merits.

Costed up by the council at the time, the Hornbeam Park option was put at £11.9m. Though the details of this total cost have never been made public, the higher value could include an allowance for retaining and refurbishing one of the council’s town centre buildings. The report on the investigation into this option says it “prevents a single site solution” and, being out of the town centre, “results in requirement for additional town centre customer service centre”.  

The Hornbeam Park option only prevented a single-site solution because the council was absolutely determined that it needed to be in the town centre.  Although high quality, the simple rectangular design would have been cheaper. 

The council headquarters put forward at Hornbeam Park were rejected

An office on the business park could have placed HBC adjacent to a railway station, giving ease of access for anyone using public transport. A bus route had previously existed between Hornbeam Park and the town centre, which HBC could have reinstated.  

The proposal suggested up to 177 parking spaces – 82 more than the civic centre now has – for anyone travelling in a car. And the growing trend for working online means most residents will never have cause to visit the civic centre anyway, on foot or otherwise. 

Harrogate Borough Council itself said in a 2014 report that visitor numbers were expected to decline: 

“Visitor allocation is included within the proposals for the Knapping Mount site; this is currently shown as five spaces but could be increased by the redesignation of six of employee spaces at the side of the building. This allocation is being carefully monitored and visitor surveys will continue to take place as the council moves towards the new accommodation, this will be necessary as the visitor numbers could decrease due to the channel shift effect of more services being deliverable online or via telephone.” 

Was being so central really necessary? Serving a district of more than 500 square miles, was it essential for HBC to be located in Harrogate town centre?  

Using their logic and offsetting the income from the sale of all the sites, the council could have had £11.6m to put towards the new civic centre. At a cost of £10.5m, this would have left £1.1m in the bank.  

Tomorrow:

• Is Knapping Mount delivering on promised savings?
• The problem of car parking at the new civic centre

Read The Stray Ferret on Tuesday morning for the full story.

Harrogate Borough Council says the £11.5m build cost of the Civic Centre is not a true picture of the cost of the project 

Reacting to a Stray Ferret exclusive on Friday, the Council argues the overall cost was lower because of money received in the sale of its other premises. 

Harrogate Borough Council argued that the £11.5m reported as the final build cost by The Stray Ferret did not reflect the overall cost of the new council offices at Knapping Mount.   

The figure of £11.5m for building the Civic Centre was obtained by a Freedom of Information request made by The Stray Ferret. The Stray Ferret asked: What was the final cost to Harrogate Borough Council of building its new Civic Centre at St Luke’s Avenue?

Its FOI response said: 

“Final account negotiations were ongoing between the Council and Harry Fairclough prior to Harry Fairclough entering into administration. The Council’s view of the gross valuation of the final account sum for the building contract is £11,516,200.” 

The council said that the figure it released as part of the FOI may change as it continues to negotiate costs with the construction firm, Harry Fairclough Ltd, which has gone into administration. 

It also said that the £11.5m figure to build its new offices did not take into account the fact that millions of pounds was generated through the sale of its other council department buildings to fund the move—these included the sale of Victoria Park House, Scottsdale House, Springfield House and Crescent Gardens. It also argued that moving staff onto one site would result in savings of £1m a year on overheads. 

The council said the £11m figure was always in the public domain. However, in a leaflet distributed by the ruling Conservative party in 2014 during a consultation about the planned build at Knapping Mount, the £8.7m was reported as a gross figure, with the sale of the offices to be deducted from this: 

Taken from a Conservative leaflet distributed to local households in 2014

The council had refused to confirm the cost in response to previous FOI requests, citing commercial sensitivity. Having now been released, the numbers are still confusing for residents of the district. 

The Stray Ferret requested the information in the FOI as part of a detailed look into the net cost of the move to Knapping Mount, the sale of its former offices and whether or not the council has met its original stated objectives for the whole project.    

A full report of our findings will be published once complete.  

The final build cost for Harrogate’s new civic centre has been revealed as £11,516,200.

It is almost £3m more than the budget announced by Harrogate Borough Council at the outset of the project in 2015.

The figure was revealed to The Stray Ferret after a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Previously, the council had refused to announce the cost on the grounds of “commercial sensitivity”. Contractor Harry Fairclough (Construction) Limited entered administration in February this year.

The council said: “Final account negotiations were ongoing between the Council and Harry Fairclough prior to Harry Fairclough entering into administration.”

In 2015, when the council first began work at the Knapping Mount site, the expected build cost was £8.7m.

Harrogate Borough Council said its intention was to unite all staff on one site, saving £1m per year through efficiencies as a result. It argued its existing offices across five sites were not fit for purpose.

Having first put its historic Crescent Gardens building on the market in July 2015, HBC finally announced it had completed a sale to Impala Estates in January this year for £4m. The company said it intends to refurbish the building as offices.