Ceredigion County Council is “assessing” feedback from a consultation over the best use of spare space at its Aberystwyth offices as staff continue to stay away amid hybrid working trials.
Parts of the £15 m Canolfan Rheidol building will be given over temporarily to Hywel Dda University Health Board for outpatient physiotherapy clinics, the council has announced, while it develops a longer term plan for the empty space in the building with more staff working from home.
Built in 2009, Canolfan Rheidol brought a number of the council’s departments under one roof after they were located in separate offices in Aberystwyth.
But since the coronavirus pandemic, the model of working from home has been extended, with ongoing hybrid-working trials continuing for staff across several departments.
The trial is set to last until next year - more than two years since the end of Covid-19 restrictions.
In June last year, the Cambrian News revealed the usage of desks by staff is “well below availability” in the building.
Last year, council leader Cllr Bryan Davies, said that “staff feedback has shown that hybrid working has been embedded in working practices, with benefits including increased productivity, improved collaboration, greater flexibility in balancing work and home life and helping the environment with less travelling.”
“With high numbers of staff choosing to work in a hybrid way there are significant opportunities to transform the space formerly occupied by desks and meeting rooms to provide a range of new uses or deliver services in a more integrated way, both internally and with external partners and agencies,” he said.”
“This is the next step in adapting spaces to meet future needs.
“This means change and make the buildings service delivery orientated.
“The past few years have proven that services can be delivered in a different way.”
The council said: “Following the implementation of Ceredigion County Council’s Hybrid Working Strategy and Interim Hybrid Policy, there are significant opportunities to reconfigure and make better use of the Council’s office space to provide other public services by working with partner organisations.
“The first of these opportunities sees agreement between the council and Hywel Dda that part of Canolfan Rheidol will be used to provide physiotherapy services.
“This will be on a temporary basis whilst the hybrid trial period continues, and the council considers the best longer term alternative use of space in its offices.”
The council added that results from a survey launched last year on future uses of the building “is currently being assessed and will be taken into account when the council reviews the success of the 12-month trial hybrid working arrangements.”