Move more staff to 'under-utilised' £21million building at former Ballykelly military base, Finance Minister urged

Civil servants could be moved from one “under-occupied” building in Coleraine to a state-of-the-art, £21 million building on a former military base in Ballykelly that opened in 2018 but still remains well below capacity, it has been suggested.

Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald, whose East Derry constituency includes both Coleraine and Ballykelly, agreed to consider the future of County Hall in Coleraine when she was asked about it at Stormont this week.

The Ballykelly building was built on the former Shackleton army base after it was gifted to the Stormont Executive in 2011, following the army’s withdrawal from Northern Ireland.

It was originally intended to house around around 600 civil servants under a policy of decentralisation, pursued by the then Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill, to move public sector jobs out of Belfast and into the North West region.

In 2018 the first staff members moved into the office and by February of 2019 there were 270 public sector workers based in what was known at that time as Ballykelly House.

It was renamed Jubilee House in 2022 by Edwin Poots, who was the Agriculture Minister at the time of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

DUP MLA Maurice Bradley believes it would be “prudent” to move staff from another building in his constituency to Ballykelly to make better use of both the newer building in Ballykelly, and the existing building in Coleraine.

He asked the Finance Minister at Stormont whether she has “considered the future of Coleraine’s County Hall within the office estate review and to state whether a building survey has been carried out recently.”

The Minister, Dr Archibald, said the issue has “not come up yet”.

Maurice Bradley, meanwhile, continued: “County Hall has a capacity of 700, but only a fraction of it is occupied. Would it be feasible to move the small number of staff from County Hall to Jubilee House in Ballykelly, which is also under-occupied? Will the Department enter discussions with Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council to promote an office establishment there or, better still, give the building to the council and let it maintain it?”

Dr Archibald replied: “I will be happy to engage with the Member further on that. I am familiar with the buildings that he talked about, as they are in my constituency. The Department of Finance’s vision is to be able to move between different Departments’ buildings so that we maximise the potential of the office space to which we have access and make best use of it. We also want to ensure that our office space is as carbon-friendly as it can be so that we contribute to our climate targets.”

Maurice Bradley, speaking to Belfast Live, said: “It would be prudent for the Department to make this move, because it would free up that building, and create space in Coleraine that could be put to other uses.”

County Hall in Coleraine has been used by various government departments since it opened in 1970.

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