CHRIS THOMSON
RELATED COVERAGE: SECURITY FEARS FOR NEW CABINET OFFICE
Premier Colin Barnett and state cabinet will shift to a West Perth heritage building as part of a monumental move that will displace thousands of bureaucrats.
Heritage listed Hale House will be refurbished as part of a move to house ministerial offices and core government agencies around parliament house.
Mr Barnett said the government-owned building would become home to a new cabinet meeting room, cabinet note takers and the office of the premier.
“There are a number of factors which have lead to this decision including the owners of Governor Stirling Tower informing the government the building would not be available from July 2012,” Mr Barnett said.
“This is an opportunity to make some long-term savings in government accommodation costs by moving into government-owned buildings.
“Hale House will replace two floors of space currently being leased at Governor Stirling Tower which based on projected lease costs is a saving of $1.2millon per year.”
PAYS FOR ITSELF
Mr Barnett said the relocation costs would be recovered in 14 years on rent the state would have paid at the tower.
“Hale House is a heritage listed building dating back to 1914,” he said.
“Unfortunately it has fallen into disrepair and needed to be restored in any event.
“It’s estimated this project will cost $17 million and bring the building up to the same standard of the adjacent constitutional centre and the old observatory.
The lower level of Hale House will include a new cabinet meeting room and house the cabinet secretariat. The office of the premier will take up the upper level of the building.
Work will start soon and is forecast to be completed by October 2012.
The government intends to negotiate a short-term extension of the lease on Governor Stirling Tower.
MINISTERS
Meanwhile, 13 ministers and their legion of advisers are set to be based at Dumas House – the big, black cuboid that dominates the horizon beside King’s Park.
Dumas House will receive a $86 million refurbishment.
About 25 agencies comprising 1150 bureaucrats will relocate from Governor Stirling Tower.
MINIONS
Of these, 600 will relocate to Dumas House. Most others will move to a new building at 140 William Street Perth or to Albert Facey House which will get a $12.9 million overhaul.
Displaced staff include those from the Department of Treasury and Finance’s treasury division and the Economic Regulation Authority.
Bureaucrats currently in Dumas House will be shunted to either 140 William Street, Albert Facey House, or in the case of DTF’s government procurement division to the new Optima building in Osborne Park.
