White Elephant House

The Daily Telegraph
13th June 2005

'Ego led to £7.5m white elephant'
By Paul Stokes,



A labour-run local authority is moving staff into a new £7.5 million eco-friendly building which has been described as a white elephant.

Construction work on what some believe was intended to be the regional assembly building for the North East started a month before the public rejected plans for regional government in a referendum last November.

Durham county council has now agreed to lease part of the building for an estimated £350,000 a year.

Brian Clouston, the chairman of the Durham Taxpayers Alliance, said: "I don't think there has been any chicanery but regional pride has got the better of common sense.

"The county said right up to the day of the referendum that no site had been chosen for an HQ - it was up for grabs.

"Yet all the time they were drawing up plans to develop this site. When the No vote came they were left exposed."

He added: "It is a sophisticated building and a sensitive site. I am convinced the authorities had decided this was where the assembly building would be and it was given the green light at virtually every phase.

"This is an example of local authority ego. They wanted the regional assembly building in Durham City and pulled out all the stops to get it. Now they are left with a white elephant which they are embarrassed about and have to find a use for."

The 48,000 sq ft block includes a roof insulated with sedum plants and a boiler fuelled by recycled wood pellets.

A Durham county council spokesman said: "The building could have been offered to members of the new assembly as one of a number of options to consider as their temporary headquarters but it certainly would not have been suitable as the assembly's permanent home.

"We also considered it potentially suitable to address our own accommodation problems."