Brent Council poised to lease out 8th floor of Civic Centre to HMRC agency

Civic Centre office floors

Brent Council appears to be likely to lease the 8th floor of the Civic Centre to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and Executive Agency of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).   The 7th floor is already occupied by Air France.

The space has been marketed by Colliers International who were also agents for the Brent Town Hall. Their advertisement can be view HERE.

Potential occupation has been limited by the fact that there is no public access to these floors and any access change would require additional expenditure.  A report going before Cabinet notes that interest in leasing the space has also been expressed by Job Centre Plus and the Brent Clinical Commissioning Group.  The latter would have advantages in terms of developing the working relationship with the Council. The VOA would be a back office operation with no 'public facing' role.

It is proposed that the space be leased for 10 years with a 5 year rent review and tenant break option.

Meanwhile Job Centre Plus has expressed an interest in property at 6 St Johns Road Wembley.

The report LINK notes:

3. Letting to the VOA also should significantly contribute to that [Property] savings target. It is not commercially sensitive to note that it should save £80k annually based on 2016/17 business rate figures, as these become the responsibility of the VOA. However, it is important to note that these savings are predicated on the 2016/17 valuations and not the 2017/18 revaluation. Therefore, these savings would likely be offset by a probable increase in rates.
   

The likely revenue from the lease has been deemed commercially sensitive and is available to Cabinet members but not the public.