Two appointed for Rochdale council offices work
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council has awarded two further contracts to firms with offices in Manchester as part of its plans to build a new £55m base.
Curtins Consulting, which also has an office in Liverpool, has been awarded with a structural engineering contract and the Manchester office of the RPS Group, located in Princess Street, has gained a mechanical and electrical engineer contract for the development of the council's new municipal offices.
The new building will be home to 2,000 council staff and extend to between 250,000 sq ft and 320,000 sq ft in gross floor area.
The development will also feature a new library and information centre, public customer services, training and conference facilities together with offices for the NHS. The current municipal offices, dubbed the Black Box locally, will be demolished together with an adjacent bus station.
A two-acre riverside site on Smith Street has been set aside for the new office. Construction is due to start next summer with the building opening in autumn 2012.
Separate contracts are yet to be awarded for the quantity surveyor and CDM co-ordinator.
Earlier in the week, Newcastle-based architect Faulkner Browns won the contest to design the new council offices.
