Empty town hall offices cost council more than £1m

A council in West Sussex has missed out on more than £1m of income because its new town hall building is more than half empty.

Crawley Borough Council opened The Create Building in The Boulevard more than two years ago, and 55% of the office space had not been let.

There were potential earnings of £2,307,273 per year if all 77,000 sq ft (7,154 sq m) of space for commercial tenants was let, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

A council spokesperson said: "We continue to explore opportunities with prospective tenants to fill the remaining commercial space in The Create Building. It is important that we get the right tenants to ensure long-term stability of income."

Between March 2023 and the end of March 2025, 35,000 sq ft (3,252 sq m) was let, bringing in £1,260,912, a difference of £1,046,361, the LDRS said.

Construction of the nine-storey building started in the spring of 2020 and finished in late 2022, before it officially opened in March 2023.

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