The Welsh Assembly is to build a North Wales office headquarters on the four-acre (1.62ha) site of the former Hotpoint factory in Llandudno Junction.
The Assembly says it has yet to decide how much space it requires but is believed to be looking at building up to 150,000 sq ft (13,935 sq m).
The office is one of three new schemes – the others being 55,000 sq ft (5,109 sq m) in Merthyr Tydfil and a similar-sized development in Aberystwyth – unveiled in a recently agreed five-year location strategy.
Assembly first minister Rhodri Morgan, pictured above at the Llandudno site, said: “The new office will give the Welsh Assembly government a clear and visible presence in North Wales and will provide a major boost for the local economy.
“It is a significant step in our plan to spread the benefits of civil service jobs working for the Assembly government more evenly throughout Wales.”
The former Hotpoint site was acquired by the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) from owner Marconi in 2000.
More than 300,000 sq ft (27,870 sq m) of industrial and office buildings have since been flattened.
The Assembly selected the site ahead of rival sites at Abergele Science Park and close to Conwy council’s headquarters in Bodloneb.
Morgan added: “A further announcement on the specific functions of the North Wales office will be made by the autumn when consultations with staff and partnership bodies are complete.
“We will be continuing to press the UK government to disperse civil service jobs from London and the South East to a range of locations in Wales, including North Wales, in line with the Lyons Review and the chancellor’s recent announcements.”
The building is due to be occupied by spring 2007.
EG last week highlighted how the Welsh Assembly is implementing its own version of the Lyons findings by switching major public sector office requirements from Cardiff to towns throughout the Principality.
Cardiff-based Welsh historic monuments body Cadw has recently signed for a 25,000 sq ft (2,322 sq m) headquarters building at Nantgarw, near Pontypridd, while Welsh Health Estates, which occupies 50,000 sq ft (4,645 sq m) in Cardiff city centre, is set to move out of the city when its lease expires at Churchill House, Churchill Way, in the next two years.
References: EGi News 11/05/04
