However, no site has yet been identified for the new building, which would house 1,600 civil servants.
The move is part of government plans to consolidate its current 21 offices into seven blocks over the next ten years.
Chief Minister John Le Fondré said this would release valuable sites for affordable housing, keyworker accommodation and other developments. He added that there had been ‘woeful underinvestment’ in States offices.
The main government offices are currently based in Broad Street after civil servants moved out of Cyril Le Marquand House earlier this year.
Senator Le Fondré said: ‘The office strategy is something the private sector have done an awful lot on. They showed massive increases in productivity from consolidating offices and better working conditions. When I was looking at it in 2008 or so, the cashable savings were, from memory, about £3 to £4 million a year.
‘Now we are seeing it is up to £7 million a year – that gives you an idea of some of the inefficiencies which we have found.’
The Chief Minister said that there had been a decade of inactivity in developing a plan for office buildings and that had been a ‘source of frustration’.
He added: ‘Too many of our staff work in a poor-quality environment in old offices, with poor wellbeing facilities, poor energy efficiency and limited disability access. In short, they are no longer fit for purpose.
‘Consolidating our office estate will release sites for much-needed affordable housing and other development and could save up to £7 million a year of taxpayers’ money, while providing a modern working environment for our staff.’
As well as a potential £7 million a year saving in running costs, Senator Le Fondré said additional value would be found in ‘soft-dollar savings’ such as increased productivity. It is estimated that around £28.5 million could potentially be raised from the sale of vacated sites. The States said the ‘do nothing’ option cost more than £160 million over the next 30 years, while the option of using a developer to build a new office, on either a government-owned or third-party site, would potentially save £30 million of those capital costs over the same period.
The new government offices would have a floorspace of 11,000 sq m.
The States will vacate the following:
• Cyril Le Marquand House
• South Hill
• Philip Le Feuvre House
• Huguenot House
• Maritime House
• Jubilee Wharf
• Maison Le Pape
• Le Bas
• Highlands administrative offices (not Highlands College).
And in the next four or five years will end the lease of:
• Broad Street
• The Parade
• Durell House
• Eagle House
• Liberté House
• Bermuda House
