This week a ministerial decision signed by Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis was published, and later withdrawn, indicating the government’s intention to take on a 25-year lease with LMN Jersey Investments Ltd at 31-41 Broad Street and 19-29 Commercial Street.
The current government headquarters, which houses 500 staff, is based in the former RBC building at 19-21 Broad Street and has been rented for around £1 million per year since 2018.
Senator Kristina Moore, chairwoman of the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel, had planned to lodge a proposal calling for the decision to be rescinded owing to backbenchers’ concerns over the plans.
But Chief Minister John Le Fondré wrote to her on Thursday advising that the order had been withdrawn due to ‘last-minute and unexpected commercial issues that need to be resolved in advance of entering into a contract’.
Senator Moore said that she planned to meet her Scrutiny colleagues on Monday to discuss the matter and that she was determined that States Members should have the final say on any decision about the site.
She added that she felt the government should be looking to use land already within its property portfolio for new offices and not taking out a new lease.
‘Even though the ministerial decision has been withdrawn, we think it is worth putting a marker in the sand, giving the States Assembly the opportunity to voice its views on the idea of such a transaction taking place so we will probably still lodge a proposition,’ she said.
‘The government does own extensive land elsewhere and I think that should be used. Personally I worked in [previous government headquarters] Cyril Le Marquand House for four years and didn’t find it unworkable.
‘It needed a new lift but I’m sure addressing that would be far more cost-effective than taking out a lease on a building for a significant number of years and refurbishing that.’
She added that changing office requirements, with more people likely to work from home in the future, also needed to be considered.
‘They need to adequately taken into account the genuine needs of people who work for the government and how the government would wish to organise its office space in the future,’ she said.
‘There could be many radical shifts in practice in a very quick time and it may be the case that significant parts of the public sector wish to work in a different way going forward.
‘That will have an impact on the use and style of any building.’
The Senator said that she felt that the government needed to be more open about its intentions for the site and for its long-planned future headquarters.
The government declined to provide details to the JEP of its intentions for 31-41 Broad Street.
A spokesperson said: ‘We do not comment on ongoing commercial discussions.’
