Castle Circus Regeneration Project

Council office staff currently operate out of 16 locations across the Bay in buildings that are not fit for purpose. The Hub Project will bring the majority of employees together to make the Council more efficient and enable members of the public to access council services under one roof.

The plans include the complete refurbishment of Torquay Town Hall which is almost 100 years old. The whole of the ground floor will be opened up for public access and will include a new café, a much larger Connections area and a suite of meeting rooms open during evenings and weekends. There will also be an improved Assembly Hall refurbished as a single large hall and six new open plan office floors will be created in the Town Hall to house council office staff.

Cabinet Member for Community Services, Dave Butt, said: "All of Torbay Council's customers will benefit from this exciting project. The Council will become much more efficient and people will have better access to all our services, many of which will be under one roof. These consultation events will enable residents to look at the plans for the Town Hall, ask any questions and influence the final outcome.

"This is not just a talking shop. Earlier this year, Torbay residents were invited to give their views on options put forward for community usage of the Town Hall’s Assembly Hall. The majority of feedback showed a clear preference to retain the hall as an open space with some basic modernisation and refurbishment and this was the recommendation put to Cabinet."

The £36 million Hub project also involves creating up to 40,000 square feet of new office space on the Town Hall car park to attract more businesses, jobs and inward investment to Torquay. The council will invest in facelift grants to help improve the appearance of buildings in the top part of Union Street and promote the buildings the council vacates to other businesses.

The project has a solid business case and is expected to save the council over £1 million a year.

Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Chris Lewis said: "There hasn't been any major private sector initiatives in the town centre in the last 20 years and this project will act as a catalyst for further regeneration in the Bay. We estimate 1,000 long and short term non-council jobs will be created through short term construction work as well as from attracting new businesses to office space in the Town Hall car park and refurbished office space in buildings vacated by council staff. This is the time for us to invest in our economy and it is just one of many projects to help our town centres."

Subject to planning permission, work is expected to start on the Town Hall later this year and will finish in 2011.

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