Council may sell office buildings for £10m to help its finances

The council is considering selling off Reform Road assets worth more than £10million in a bid to fend off further costs from running them and help its financial situation.

Office buildings in the centre of Maidenhead are ‘beyond their economic life’ and should be sold off, Royal Borough
officers have said.

These include Clyde House and the Project Centre.

The council would lose up to £184,000 of income a year from selling off its assets – but council officers are still convinced it is the best choice for the Royal Borough’s
finances.

Since October 2023, the council’s finances have ‘significantly worsened,’ says a report on the proposed sale, to be presented to cabinet next week.

This makes asset sales to reduce borrowing and improve the revenue position ‘even more critical’.

The council’s Reform Road asset comprises previously developed and partially vacant employment land spanning 13,500sqm.

It contains 13 buildings, let on long ground leases (when a leaseholder makes regular payments to the freeholder, giving income to the landowner).

This includes the cleared Waldeck House site, Clyde House, Project Centre and car park.

Waldeck House was demolished because it was ‘posing a financial liability … plus [had] health and safety concerns.’

“Clyde House and the Project Centre are reaching or at a similar position,” wrote officers.

As such, they would require ‘significant’ money poured into them in the next two years to bring them up to legal standards, so they can remain in use.

Without this, the properties ‘would fall further into disrepair’, causing extra costs to the council, including additional health and safety monitoring costs.

The development site ‘would remain under used and out of economic activity.’

If the Reform Road assets are not sold, warned officers, the council will effectively be committing to investing more capital into the site to ensure the buildings meet these standards.

This would require additional borrowing – and the income of the refurbished buildings ‘would not be sufficient’ to meet the cost of the debt.

Moreover, the estimated cost to refurbish Clyde House to meet the minimum energy standards and be marketable is £3million.

“This does not represent any value for money,” wrote officers.

Meanwhile, the sale of the assets would ‘realise a significant capital receipt in excess of £10million to support the council finances’.

Consequently, the report author Ian Brazier-Dubber, managing director of RBWM Property Company, signed off on a recommendation to pursue the sale of the assets and land.

A council spokesperson said: “The council is the freehold owner of the majority of the land at Reform Road and has been so since the 1970s.

“Council assets in Reform Road comprise vacant land and occupied buildings, and proportion of the land is occupied by buildings owned by third parties via long leases. A number of the buildings in this road are beyond their economic life and would require extensive and costly investment to bring them up to modern standards.

“The Reform Road site is allocated in the Borough Local Plan for employment led economic development, not for housing. The council has a duty to get the best possible value for all assets and we believe marketing for sale provides the best opportunity to achieve this.”

Cabinet is set to make a decision on this matter at a meeting on Wednesday.