Farewell Quarry House!
The BBC’s news today about the Leeds DWP office failing to enforce social distancing following an Health and Safety Executive inspection brought back many memories of Quarry House – a building which carries the rather unkind soubriquet “The Kremlin”.
Just 30 years ago, as the lead project director of the Thatcher relocation programme, I and my departmental colleagues would meet monthly at the Queens Hotel by the railway station at Leeds to share experiences and discuss overall progress. Quarry House was then in the very early stages of development on the site of what was the UK’s largest social housing complex. Built in 1938, this complex’s design was heavily influenced by modernist developments in Europe and incorporated many radical features for its time, such as refuse disposal systems, solid fuel ranges and a communal swimming pool. The complex was featured in a number of films and TV productions in the post war years but sadly fell into decline as a result of social problems and was demolished in 1978.
The Thatcher relocation programme was a big one and arguably the most successful, involving most central departments that saw dispersals to Sheffield, Leeds, Runcorn, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol. Some of these involved ‘new builds’, Castle Meadow in Nottingham for the HMRC, Abbey Wood for the Ministry of Defence at Bristol and Quarry House for the then-Department of Health at Leeds. At our monthly meetings we would marvel at the Quarry House development plans that, at the time, were ‘state of the art’ although a significant disadvantage was its relative remoteness, it being a rather long walk from the mainline station. The building now looks decidedly old-fashioned and the social distancing farrago underscores how office space will have to change in the post-COVID-19 era.
This will be particularly true for the imminent civil service relocation programme announced by the chancellor in his March budget. Michael Gove touched on this in his Ditchley speech in June when he spoke of relocating Whitehall decision-making centres not just to regional centres such as Manchester and Bristol but to the towns and cities of the UK. Against this backdrop, the new programme will not be about ‘flagship’ new builds but smaller and more agile offices linked to other public sector bodies in numerous towns and cities in England and the devolved nations with an emphasis on home working. So farewell Quarry House!
David Werran is a former civil servant and non-executive chairman of DragonGate Market Intelligence.
Related articles
The Care Tech Campus Challenge Fund Report
REPORT Essex Care Tech Campus Assessing the Outcomes from the inaugural Challenge Fund The Care Tech Campus Challenge Fund, launched in May 2023, serves as an early demonstration project for the core principles and benefits of the Care Technology Campus in Essex. These core principles and benefits include codesign and development with users, providers and the…
Securing National HQ of Great British Railways to Derby
In the teeth of determined civil service opposition, it was brave of the government to commit 750 top posts in the Treasury to Darlington and 500 in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to Wolverhampton as part of the imminent Whitehall relocation programme and levelling-up agenda.
Administrating the Government Estate: As Yogi Berra Once Said “It’s Like Deja Vu All Over Again”
The administration of the government estate can be traced back in history to the time of the Anglo Saxons. Throughout this history it has posed civil servants great challenges; with a renewed surge in activity and strategy, the risk today is that government fails to learn from these challenges and repeats the mistakes of the past.
Times Red Box: Plans to force civil servants out of London are far too timid
In the teeth of determined civil service opposition, it was brave of the government to commit 750 top posts in the Treasury to Darlington and 500 in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to Wolverhampton as part of the imminent Whitehall relocation programme and levelling-up agenda.
Moving Out: What are the Benefits of Civil Service Relocation?
The Institute has produced a thought-provoking piece as Government prepares for a programme that will see 22,000 civil servants relocated to the English regions and devolved nations during the current decade. But there some important gaps in the paper with too much emphasis on the costs and too little on the very real savings and improvements that can be made, both in the short and the long term.
Farewell Quarry House!
The BBC’s news today about the Leeds DWP office failing to enforce social distancing following an Health and Safety Executive inspection brought back many memories of Quarry House – a building which carries the rather unkind soubriquet “The Kremlin”.
You Know When You’ve Been Quangoed
For Boris Johnson’s shellshocked government, there has been little instructive from the worlds of ed and med in recent weeks.
Blame has flown and political heat applied to previously little known quango Ofqual and the much criticised Public Health England (PHE) before its demise and absorption into the National Institute for Health Protection. Before this, the secretary of state for health and chief strategic government advisers were, apparently, unaware that they had the power all along to direct and control PHE.
Track and Trace – Why is Serco in the Frame?
Serco was awarded a track and trace contract valued up to £400m, apparently without competition.
Actually, there was a competition – kind of. Serco competed for, and won a place on a government “framework” contract. In effect, it is a catalogue – enabling governments to call off goods and services, without the need for further competition. In this case, the contract was for call centre services, and awarded by the Crown Commercial Service.
Times Red Box: No 10 must be ruthless to wrench the civil service from London
In his March budget the chancellor indicated the government’s intention to move 22,000 civil servants out of London by 2030. Michael Gove, in his recent Ditchley speech, spoke of relocating Whitehall decision-making centres to not only the main regional centres such as Manchester and Bristol but different parts of the UK.
But this will be nowhere near enough, and the leisurely timescale will provide ample opportunity for further delay and obfuscation, as it has done in the past. What is needed is a truly ambitious programme to relocate the majority of the 85,000 civil servants in London leaving only a core elite of a few hundred.
Spending Review 2019
George Evans-Jones presents a brief overview of the main points coming out of yesterday’s Spending Review
Pathways, Place and Priorities
This week Breaking Barriers Innovations hosted the “Pathways, Place and Priorities” Roundtable, discussing the potential impact of digital technology upon the health and social care workforce. We spoke to DragonGate & BBI Programme Manager Rahim Daya, to get his insights into how this fits into the vision for the NHS Long Term Plan
Connecting the Regions Through Clean Growth
In light of DragonGate’s recent “Connecting the Regions Through Clean Growth” Roundtable, DragonGate Programme Manager George Evans-Jones answers our questions regarding the Clean Growth Grand Challenge
Out of Sync
Tim Philpott reflects on how local authority property transformation spending may be missing out on the bigger picture
Away with the Ferries
Simon Lydiard asks how could it all go so wrong for the Department for Transport’s “no deal” ferries contract
Unravelling Government Estates Strategy
DragonGate Associate Steve Atkinson remarks on the “Unravelling Government Estates Strategy” – Local Government Roundtable hosted by Kinnarps 1st February
Passport Blues
Simon Lydiard reflects on the outcry over the contract for new, post-Brexit passports being awarded to a company based in the EU
Building Transformation in the Public Sector
The demand and financial pressures on the public sector are not going away; but policy activity from central government could nevertheless be the basis for far-reaching local transformation – well beyond the aims of the individual strategies – for the benefit of those who really matter: local citizens. That was one of the conclusions of a recent DGMI round table, hosted and facilitated by Kinnarps.
Relocation is Good for Our Nation’s Health
In his interesting piece in The Times on the 20th January, Matthew Parris uses the recently published ONS figures that highlight the severe health inequality across the nation. The figures present a jarring picture of imbalance between the London population and the rest of the country…
Outsourcing is Too Big, Time to Manage it Back Down to Size
The collapse of Carillion was an accident waiting to happen. To understand why, just reflect on Theresa May’s claim at PMQs that the Government were customers of Carillion, not its manager…
Out of Sync: Local Authority Transformation is Missing Out on the Bigger Picture
Ongoing DragonGate research has established that 2018-19 will be a high watermark for Local Government property transformation, with approximately 70 projects due to be completed over the next 24 months. However, with adjacent sectors such as the NHS, Higher Education and Central Government implementing similar programmes for property transformation there is little evidence that opportunities for place-based collaboration are truly being embraced.
Will small ever be beautiful for post-Brexit government procurement?
Lost amid much of the fanfare of the Conservative Manifesto launch were some familiar pledges on Government purchasing relationships with…
Breaking the Goldfish Bowl: The DragonGate Eve of Budget Viewpoint: Time to reassess the case for Government relocation
Metaphorically putting civil service goldfish into tanks (outside of the London goldfish bowl) would allow a less rounded, more real understanding of the impact of national policy decisions at the grass roots.
Prime for transformation?
The sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) programme should harness and drive digital innovation as a positive force to help overcome barriers to the integration of health and social care and improve standards of delivery
Time to capitalise on NHS estates strategy
There was a time when the intricacies of local government and NHS capital expenditure were delicacies best served up by specialist trade magazines for a discerning readership
And Justice for All
Nothing less than a ‘whole-place’ pooling of public service budgets and devolution of criminal justice system powers to local level can create the conditions for community transformation