HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is today (Thursday, 14 June 2008) publishing the outcome of a review of its occupation of buildings within outer London and the South East. This is the latest in a nationwide series of consultations on the future shape of the department.
HMRC was created in April 2005 following the merger of the former Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise, providing the opportunity to create a modern, effective revenue collection and enforcement department.
The Regional Review Programme is designed to support HMRC plans to modernise and transform its operations by matching work, offices and accommodation needs throughout the UK. The programme of reviews began in November 2006 and will continue beyond April 2008.
It is not expected that HMRC will begin to vacate any premises until the summer of 2008 but some work and staff may move ahead of this date.
Mike Hanson, HMRC director general responsible for the office review programme, said:
"These are our latest Regional Reviews to reach 'decision point'. The early proposals have in general withstood what is proving to be a very tough evaluation process. The review team's assumptions were tested against the input of more than 1,600 individual contributions as well as the views of business unit planning teams, Trades Unions, MPs, external customers, and our professional estates and IT partners."
In future, 16 buildings will house the department's operations in outer London, whilst 10 offices are to be vacated on a phased basis through to March 2011.
In the proposals published last December for outer London we planned to retain Brook Street, Kingston. We now intend to vacate this site and relocate the staff to Tolworth Tower, Surbiton, which was originally proposed for vacation. We also now plan to retain Valiant House, Uxbridge, Lyon House, Harrow and Berkeley House, Finchley. With the retention of Berkeley House the adjacent Gateway House is no longer needed.
The full list of buildings being retained is:
Buildings to be vacated in phased operations by March 2011 are:
One building, Sapphire Plaza in Reading, will house the majority of HMRC's future operations in the area, including the existing public Enquiry Centre. The Enquiry Centre in Basingstoke will also remain. Three existing offices, Eaton Court and Eldon Court in Reading and Bell Tower House in Maidenhead are to be vacated on a phased basis by autumn 2008.
The addresses of buildings included in this review are:
Four buildings will house the majority of the department's future operations in the Southampton and Portsmouth areas, whilst five offices are to be vacated on a phased basis through to March 2011. In addition, public enquiry centres will be retained at, or near their current locations.
The full list of buildings being retained is:
The following buildings will be vacated in phased operations up to March 2011:
HMRC offices on the Isle of Wight were excluded from this review following recent relocation to a new building on the island.
