| Woking Civic Offices | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Gloucester Walk, Woking |
| Coordinates | 51°19′16″N0°33′32″W / 51.3211°N 0.5590°W |
| Built | 1983 |
| Architectural style(s) | Brutalist |
  Shown in Surrey | |
Woking Civic Offices is a municipal building in Gloucester Walk, Woking, Surrey, England. It is in use as the headquarters of Woking Borough Council.
Following significant population growth, largely associated with the creation of various local institutions including a dramatic college and an invalid prison, the area became an urban district in 1894. [1] The new council initially established it offices in rented accommodation in The Broadway. However, after the rented accommodation was destroyed in a fire, the council moved to better accommodation in Commercial Road. New offices, designed in the neoclassical style, were built there in brick with ashlar stone dressings and completed in 1905. [2] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing Commercial Road. The central section of three bays featured a round headed doorway with a fanlight flanked by pilasters supporting a balcony; there was a French door on the first floor and a pediment containing a clock and two oculi above. The other bays were fenestrated with mullioned and transomed windows. [3]
In the 1930s, with the increasing responsibilities of the council, the council leaders acquired a series of large houses in Guildford Road, Mount Herman Road and York Road to accommodate the extra staff. [4] As part of the reorganisation of local government in 1974, Woking became a borough for the first time. [5] In this context, the council leaders decided to commission new civic offices where all the staff would be co-located: they considered various sites including one in Guildford Road, but eventually selected a location adjacent to the Basingstoke Canal. The new building was designed in the Brutalist style, built in concrete and glass and was officially opened by the Duke of Gloucester on 20 April 1983. [3] [6] [7] The council moved its staff into the new building in June 1983. [8]
The design involved a six-storey rectangular wing adjacent to Victoria Way with a similar but shorter wing extending southeast from the northeast corner of the main wing. The two wings formed a pedestrian courtyard known as Gloucester Square. The main structure was supplemented by an octagonal formation containing the council chamber, which was cantilevered out to the southwest, and allowed vehicular access at ground floor level. The borough coat of arms was installed on two of the external walls of this structure. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which featured a stained-glass window behind the mayor's chair. The stained glass recalled various aspects of local history including the railway, the canal and the airport. [3] An emergency control centre was established in the basement of the building. [9] [10]
An extensive programme of refurbishment works to a design by Robinson Kenning & Gallagher was completed in 2019. [11]
Surrey is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the north east, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking.
Guildford is a town in west Surrey, England, around 27 mi (43 km) southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around 143,650 inhabitants in mid-2019 est.. The name "Guildford" is thought to derive from a crossing of the River Wey, a tributary of the River Thames that flows through the town centre.
East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. The two-halves of ancient Horsley are similar in having substantial woodland and some chalky lower slopes, in the south, of the North Downs.
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Woking means"(settlement belonging to the) followers of Wocc ". Over time, the name has been written variously as, for example, Wochingas, and Wokynge.
Sheerwater is a residential neighbourhood or small suburb of Woking, in the Woking district in Surrey, England, occasionally described as a village, between West Byfleet and Horsell. Its border is defined to the north by a gently winding part of the Basingstoke Canal and to the south by the South West Main Line which passes from cutting level to that of an embankment. The neighbourhood has a business park and light industry at its south-western end. The whole area is linear, includes diverse green spaces to north and south, and covers 92 hectares.
Runcorn Town Hall is in Heath Road, Runcorn, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building. It was originally built as Halton Grange, a mansion for Thomas Johnson, a local industrialist. After passing through the ownership of two other industrialists, it was purchased in the 1930s by Runcorn Urban District Council and converted into their offices. Since 1974, it has been the meeting place for Halton Borough Council.
Woking is a town and borough in northwest Surrey, England, around 22 mi (35 km) from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as Wochinges and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The earliest evidence of human activity is from the Paleolithic, but the low fertility of the sandy, local soils meant that the area was the least populated part of the county in 1086. Between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, new transport links were constructed, including the Wey Navigation, Basingstoke Canal and London to Southampton railway line. The modern town was established in the mid-1860s, as the London Necropolis Company began to sell surplus land surrounding the railway station for development.
Export House in Woking, Surrey, is a tall office building formerly also known as the BAT Building during its tenancy by British American Tobacco. It was the tallest in Woking and among the five tallest buildings in Surrey until the construction of Victoria Square in September 2019. Its height is 73 metres (240 ft) spread over its 18 floors.
Woking Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Woking in the county of Surrey, England. The council consists of 30 councillors, three for each of the 10 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats, led by Ann-Marie Barker. The borough council is based at Woking Civic Offices.
Bearland House is a grade II* listed building in Longsmith Street, Gloucester, England.
Scarborough Town Hall, originally St Nicholas House, is a red brick Jacobean Revival mansion in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, currently used as a municipal building for the Borough of Scarborough and an events venue. It was built in the 19th century as a home for John Woodall, a prominent local businessman, and then converted and extended for municipal use in 1903. Situated overlooking the South Bay, it is a grade II listed building.
Reigate Town Hall is a municipal building in Castlefield Road, Reigate, Surrey, England. The town hall, which is the meeting place of Reigate and Banstead Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building.
Sale Town Hall is a municipal building on School Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, England. The town hall was the headquarters of Sale Borough Council until the council was abolished in 1974.
Lytham St Annes Town Hall is a municipal building on the South Promenade in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. The structure, which is used as the headquarters of Fylde Borough Council, is a locally listed building.
East Kilbride Civic Centre is a municipal building in Cornwall Street, East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The structure was the headquarters of East Kilbride District Council.
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