Moray Council occupies the neighbouring building and the completion of the refurbishment brings together Council staff onto a single, city centre campus and offers the potential efficiency of reducing the Council’s office estate from nineteen properties to just two.

The refurbished building provides around 3000 m² of flexible office space with a dedicated entrance to enable the public to access a range of council services. The vibrant office environment is open plan with diverse support facilities such as meeting rooms, hubs, refreshment points, and breakout areas.

The existing finishes and services were removed and the existing structure was exposed. This allowed new roof lights to flood the space with light and provided the opportunity for wind chimneys to drive the natural ventilation strategy. Comparative analysis proved that the natural ventilation scheme offered a whole life cost saving of £350,000 over a 25-year period and reduced the building emissions to 27Kg/CO2/m2/a compared with an average of 77 Kg/CO2/m2/a for the Council’s other office properties.

The building was completed in December 2011 and as of March 2012 is fully occupied. Simple strategies on a tight budget have delivered a BREEAM excellent rating and improved the Energy Performance Certificate from G to B. The project was part of the Office for Government Commerce framework under the control of Mace Project Management.