Office review in Inverness and Dingwall identifies scope for rationalisation.

Highland Councillors have been advised that reducing the number of Council offices in Inverness and Dingwall from 22 to 4 by 2020 has the greatest potential to deliver significant benefits and improved value to the Council when compared to retaining the current office estate.

An Outline Business Case into the rationalisation of office accommodation, which will be presented to the Council's Finance Housing and Resources Committee on Wednesday 3 October, concludes that the 'preferred option' the Council should pursue is the development of a new centrally located, four-site Council office and front line 'Service Point' solution in Inverness and Dingwall' (comprising 2 sites in Inverness and 2 sites in Dingwall).

At present, there are 14 offices in Inverness and 8 in Dingwall, many of which are not considered to be "fit for purpose". They cover 23,824 square metres and accommodate 1,509 full-time equivalent staff.

The Outline Business Case concludes: "The significant strategic benefits of a four-site option are considered to far outweigh the marginal additional costs involved and the financial case becomes even more compelling when other business and operational efficiencies expected to flow from the project are factored in."

If councillors agree a way forward, the next phase of work will be to undertake a review of the wider organisational transformational benefits of the preferred option and the development of a Full Business Case that will identify proposals for the final design solution, funding and procurement decisions for the Council

In a report to committee, Steve Barron, Depute Chief Executive and Director of Housing and Property, said: "The Inverness and Dingwall Office Review is seen as a key enabler to wider organisational changes taking place across The Highland Council and to improved partnership working. The desire to modernise working practices, drive efficiency savings and improve service delivery standards are just three corporate objectives that a modern, rationalised office portfolio is expected to help deliver. We will investigate opportunities to co-locate with our public sector partners."

Councillor Dave Fallows, Chairman of the Finance Housing and Resources Committee, said: "Council offices sit at the heart of everything that the Council does. Ensuring that our offices are fully supporting the activities that take place within them is fundamentally important to an efficient and effectively run Council. The Council's existing office estate is not suitable for future need. An opportunity now exists to make a huge difference to the Council's ability to modernise and achieve wider business improvement.

"Ensuring that the Council's offices are of the right size, in the right location, of the right specification and configured according to need all have a material impact on the effectiveness with which they support the Council's operations, service delivery, the image projected by the organisation (of a modern, flexible and efficient organisation), as well as the effect/impact on staff productivity and morale, recruitment and retention."