Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council has approved plans for the new civic offices at the heart of Muse Developments' Waterdale scheme, a new Civic and Cultural Quarter which will transform the Waterdale area of the town.

The five-storey, 157,500 sq ft offices will house most of the council’s town centre services on one central site and will become home to about 1,400 members of staff. The building includes a council chamber overlooking the new civic square and a purpose-built customer service centre on the ground floor.

The new building will also have strong 'green' credentials featuring the latest environmentally friendly technologies. This will make the low carbon offices highly efficient with low running costs.

Mayor of Doncaster, Peter Davies said: "In bringing all town centre council services into one modern office complex, residents will no longer have to wander between different locations to make inquiries or complete applications. Virtually everything residents want to know or do will be under one roof and this will enable the council to deliver the first class service they deserve."

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Dan Needham, Development Director at Muse Developments, said: "The granting of planning consent is another major step forward for the scheme. This will be a high quality, energy efficient building which will transform this part of Doncaster town centre and the construction phase will create a significant number of welcome jobs.

"When complete, it will act as a catalyst for the ongoing regeneration of the wider Waterdale area by allowing the redevelopment of the vacated office buildings in future phases, which will further enhance Doncaster’s offer and help attract new investment and new occupiers to the town."

The new civic offices form part of the first phase of the CCQ project which will also deliver a new public square and new performance venue. A detailed planning application for Doncaster's new venue should be submitted for consideration in the coming months.

Construction of the new civic offices is expected to start by the end of the year and should take two years to complete. The developments in the first phase should be open for business in early 2013.

(CD/GK)