A report recommending a 20-year lease of the South Walks House building in Dorchester to local NHS organisations will be discussed at Dorset Council’s Cabinet meeting on 7 December. This is the preferred option for future use of the building, and local NHS organisations will make their decision on this in February / March 2022.
The proposed use of South Walks House by the NHS for a combination of clinical and office purposes would provide a central and easily accessible location for the NHS, allowing it to widen its service provision for Dorset residents, and would provide the best financial return to the council.
South Walks House is currently being used for six months by Dorset County Hospital and other NHS partners as an Outpatient Assessment Centre, with rapid access clinics operating out of the ground floor as part of a county-wide effort to tackle NHS waiting lists.
If local NHS organisations decide not to proceed with the lease or are unable to reach a decision by 31 March 2022, the report recommends that councillors should agree to pursue other options for the future use of South Walks House.
Dorset Council’s Cabinet agreed an office strategy for Dorchester-based staff in April this year, consolidating most of the council’s office requirements at the County Hall site. This is already generating substantial cost savings for the council. For example, by ending the lease of Princes House in March 2021, the council is saving £270,000 a year. Dorset Council requires less office space in Dorchester because of the reductions in staffing resulting from local government reorganisation, and because of the move to hybrid working with more employees now working from home and other locations.
Detailed investigation into options for the future use on South Walks House has been conducted over the past few months. Short-listed options include selling the building, converting the building for residential accommodation, converting the building for hotel use, and leasing it to local NHS organisations. Each option has been analysed and ranked to establish which would be the most financially advantageous to the council and provide the best wider economic and social benefits. Other options for use of the building were also looked at but found not to be viable, including use as a care home, for retail, a school, as managed offices, a GP surgery, and an information technology training centre.
Cllr Tony Ferrari, Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Property and Assets, said:
“Our overriding priority is to secure the best outcome for Dorset residents, both in terms of the services that can be provided to them from South Walks House, and in terms of financial savings for the council. Leasing the building to local NHS partners is the ideal solution. We do, however, have a number of other viable options to pursue should the NHS decide they do not want to proceed”.
it is a great option that South Walks house be rented for use by the NHS whether that is clinical, offices or a mix. It will be providing employment and services in the locality. Should this option fall through, then the property should be offered for commercial rent . Many companies are looking to relocate outside of London, and many large head offices are deciding to have locality offices to take advantage of hybrid working. It would be better to have a facility that could offer employment to enhance both the town and local area.
lease to NHS
Make this building into what our town really needs and that is affordable housing for local young people. They are not catered for at all and this town is becoming full of retirement properties. We need to encourage our younger generation to stay so need to provide homes they can afford. Private rent in this town is over £900 a month for a small 2 bed accommodation, our wages don’t cover these costs, how are they supposed to live here. The people that want these homes should provide proof that they have strong local connections. Let the locals decide after all it was our money that funded most of it.
For goodness’ sake do something useful with this hideous white elephant on which WDDC wasted all its reserves and then cut essential services to maintain almost empty. If the NHS doesn’t want it long term, use it for accommodation – either for homeless people living on the streets (plenty of them in West Dorset), as a kind of halfway hostel, or converted into flats for some of the hundreds waiting for housing.
But whatever you do, get on with it and don’t dither!
Good call. I seem to recall a huge protest when this monstrosity was first introduced. Now it is empty. You could NOT make it up. The Tourist Information should never have been moved from the central area of Dorchester either…..much better place where a lot of people walked by….
Is this the hugely expensive building that replaced another council building earlier this century? Is County Hall now used byDorset Council?
Just who makes these decisions and how?
The expression WHITE ELEPHANT comes to my mind, and that is the polite reaction to be honest.
Dorset Police were looking to redesign/re-build their headquarters in Winfrith, would it not be costsaving for them to take it over and move into the County town?
Would be a central location for their operations.
Dorset Police appear to be taking a different approach – https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/19736922.first-look-plans-new-dorset-police-hq/
Leasing it to the NHS seems to be a good option but failing that the building should be converted to low-cost residential units for local people.