Northamptonshire County Council announced last year it planned to centralise its Northampton-based staff out of an existing stock of 12 ageing HQ buildings into one energy efficient, low-carbon building, helping to avoid up to £54m in future building costs.
At the same time, it is estimated the new building – which is planned for the Angel Street site currently used for council staff parking – would help boost town trade by up to £12m by moving more than 2,000 employees into the town centre.
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Six companies are now competing to win the contract to design the new building – currently dubbed Project Angel – and next week each of them will be displaying their initial designs at an exhibition taking place at Northampton's Central Library.
Leader of the county council Councillor Jim Harker said: "This project is so critical not only to helping the council rise to its significant financial challenges but also helping to give real support to Northampton town centre's economy. I am therefore delighted that already we are at the stage to be able to look at some designs of what this development may look like.
"This will give local people the chance to come and see the designs and also give their views on what they like or conversely what they don't like. This feedback will go to cabinet and also will be forwarded to the winning design team once they have been selected."
(CD/JP)
