RBWM agrees to start looking at selling office assets

Windsor and Maidenhead council has agreed to begin the process of looking into selling some of its assets – employment space on Reform Road.

The Royal Borough owns this previously developed, partially vacant employment land and 13 buildings let on long ground leases.

This includes Clyde House and the Project Centre, which are reaching the end of their economic life and would need to be refurbished.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday night (March 22), Councillor Adam Bermange, cabinet member for planning, governance and asset management, laid out the situation.

He said the council ‘simply is not in a position to commit to investing more capital into this refurbishment.’

“Whilst we’ll always review how our assets can be used to generate ongoing revenue or deliver services to residents in a more efficient way, in some cases optimisation will mean the options that presents the best value for money will be to sell,” he said.

Doing so will ‘reduce the future burden of servicing the council's debt,’ he added.

“This is now costing over £30million a year to service – money that cannot instead be spent on providing valuable services to residents,” said Cllr Bermange.

As such, he encouraged the cabinet vote to give authority to officers to prepare the sales pack, market the assets and evaluate offers coming in.

This is its only move at this juncture; Cllr Bermange stressed that any decision to actually sell will be made at a later meeting ‘after careful consideration of any offers received.’

“If we assess we have not received any acceptable offers, we will not be compelled into accepting anything less than best value that can be obtained for the site,” he said.

“This is not a fire sale.”

The site suitable for redevelopment includes Clyde House, currently let on a flexible basis to MyWorkSpot.

They have been on an annual lease for four years and have a six-month mutual break in their lease.

If the site is sold with vacant possession, MyWorkSpot would be served notice and need to relocate.

Though the company itself has done well,  ‘it is very clear the building is beyond its economic life,’ said Cllr Bermange.

“I know they are mindful of this too in their future plans,” he said.

MyWorkSpot is the only tenant of Clyde House, and the adult and family services at the Project Centre will also be relocated as part of any sale.

RBWM can choose to sell the whole site to one bidder, or sell it in parcels.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Mike Singh on behalf of Maidenhead Gurdwara expressed his hopes of finding a new home for the Maidenhead Sikh community.

The gurdwara has been in Rutland Road, a residential area, for about 40 years. The community has grown and parking becomes ‘very congested,’ affecting the nearby residences.

As such, the community is seeking an alternative site ‘in an effort to be good neighbours.’

The gurdwara and the council have been working on this over the past few months to identify suitable sites – which include Clyde House and Waldeck House (now demolished).

Mr Singh expressed his hope that the land would be sold in parcels rather than as a whole site, as he felt this would create a more ‘equal playing field’, opening the market to a ‘higher number of bidders, not just the big boys.’

Cllr Bermange said the council was ‘very open’ to receiving all kinds of bids.

One possible use of the site that was previously discussed was a health hub with GP surgery, said Cllr Joshua Reynolds, cabinet member for communities.

 But complications with NHS property process mean this is not looking likely.

“This is another one of those areas where we need to lobby the Government to work with us for the priorities of Maidenhead residents,” said Cllr Reynolds.

“Health hubs and GP surgeries are in high demand and short supply.”