Slough councillor says council need to be 'realistic' over Observatory House

A councillor has said that the council needs to be ‘realistic’ and accept that there’s ‘no hope at all’ over the renting of floors at its headquarters.

Cllr Safdar Ali (Lab, Central) made the comments at a scrutiny meeting on Wednesday, where councillors discussed a shortfall in rental income for Observatory House of £1.3m.

The meeting heard this was ‘unachievable’ while the council occupied part of the building.

In October, council leader James Swindlehurst said the council would ‘definitely be moving out’ of the headquarters..

Discussing rental options at Wednesday’s meeting, Cllr Ali said: “Under the current situation I think we need to be realistic and accept the fact that there’s no hope at all.

“First a lot of people are working from home and secondly a lot of empty office spaces exist around the town centre.

“I think we need to find a permanent solution to this problem.”

Pat Hayes, executive director of housing and property, said: “At the moment we’re looking at all the options.

“You are right, there is an oversupply of grade A office accommodation in central Slough.

“However, the office market remains quite strong as an investment asset if its fully occupied and has got good covenant behind it.

“We’re looking at Observatory House from a number of points of view.”

Mr Hayes added that the council is also looking at the option of bringing other public sector bodies into the building, such as the NHS and the police – who are all potential sub tenants if the council wanted to lease out part or all of the building.

He added thatit is also looking at the option of whether to sell the freehold and remain as the head tenant, which would ‘maximise the sale value potentially’.