Stonehenge
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall will formally open Wiltshire Council’s award-winning refurbished County Hall when she visits Trowbridge on Monday 23 June.
The Duchess will spend an hour touring County Hall, before unveiling a plaque in the Atrium to commemorate her visit and to officially open the refurbished building. During the tour, she will meet Wiltshire Council staff, view the open plan working and community environment and take part in a children’s rhymetime session in the new Trowbridge Library.
Leader of Wiltshire Council, Jane Scott OBE, who will host Her Royal Highness throughout her visit, said: “We are delighted and honoured that The Duchess of Cornwall has kindly agreed to formally open the refurbished County Hall. I’m looking forward to showing her round the building and the new multi-area shared hub and introducing her to staff and customers.
“The new County Hall is part of the council’s vision to make better use of public buildings, making them practical, more efficient and welcoming to local people, not just to access council services but for a wide-range of community activities and events.”
Since 2011, the building has undergone a dramatic change to create a modern, flexible workplace that is easily accessible to customers. In addition, it is a very environmentally sustainable facility and now has significantly reduced life-cycle costs.
County Hall is comprised of a 1938 traditional civic building and a 1974 extension, now connected via a state-of-the-art glass-fronted atrium, which hosts a public restaurant and café, registration service and new library.
The refurbishment is part of the council’s transformation programme to reduce the number of buildings from 95 to three main hubs. The programme will save more than £85 million over the next 20 years and annual running costs of £5 million each year, while also creating an environment for staff to work more flexibly.
Refurbishment work was completed in late 2013 and the building has already won several prestigious awards:
• Trowbridge “town enhancement” award 2013
• BCO (British Council for Offices) regional award for “best refurbished/recycled workplace” 2013
• LABC (Local Authority Building Control) regional award for “best large commercial building” 2013
• Shortlisted for the 2014 British Construction Industry Awards Building Project of the Year
• Commended in the MJ Awards 2014 in the Community Investor category
