The new City Hall building in east London is set to finally open after months of delay, a source has confirmed.
Greater London Authority (GLA) staff have been told they will be able to fully move into the building formerly known as The Crystal on the Royal Docks from today (21 March) following completion of the building works.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has first announced plans to move City Hall to east London in November 2020 in a bid to save more than £60million over five years.
But the move has been delayed four times due to ongoing construction work – originally scheduled for November 2021.
Read more: Sadiq Khan confirms Town Hall will move to Newham
The disaster-laden relocation descended into farce last month when staff learned the building was yet to be completed just four days before they were due to move in.
GLA staff work temporarily from London Fire Headquarters on Union Street, while the unfinished New Town Hall has been used to host several large London Assembly meetings attended by Sadiq Khan.
Many GLA staff, including members of the London Assembly and civil servants working for Sadiq Khan, have privately expressed their dissatisfaction with the move from the iconic former Town Hall building near Tower Bridge.
Susan Hall, leader of the City Hall curators, said last week: “Just like the ‘boy who cried wolf’, Sadiq Khan shouted ‘City Hall! so many times I don’t know what to believe. We are apparently moving on Monday, but have we ever heard of this before.
Ms Hall also expressed concern that the series of setbacks linked to the move will have eaten away at the supposed savings of £60million described by Sadiq Khan.
She said: ‘We are very interested to know how much these delays have cost us in monetary terms, the volatile nature of ‘camping’ at various locations, including being kicked out of our new home on multiple occasions, has had a significant impact on scrutiny. We will investigate the mayor’s requests for savings and will be very interested to see how much the move actually costs.
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-21 19:59:11
