| Woking Civic Offices | |
|---|---|
 The civic offices in 2015 | |
| 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 non-metropolitan county and also a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking.
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Camberley is a town in northwest Surrey, England, around 29 miles south-west of central London. It is in the Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Town", it was assigned its current name by the General Post Office in 1877.
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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.
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Woking is a town and borough in northwest Surrey, England, around 23 mi (36 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.
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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 Woking in 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.
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Southend Civic Centre is a municipal building in Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The structure holds the chamber for Southend-on-Sea City Council and houses the council's offices. Originally the Civic Centre incorporated the whole development of municipal buildings located between Carnarvon Road and Southend Central Museum.
The Old Town Hall is a building on Church Street in the market town of Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire, England. The building, which is located just beyond the northern end of Market Place, started life as a public house before becoming a municipal building and then reverting to use as a public house.
Runnymede Civic Centre is a municipal building in Station Road in Addlestone, a town in Surrey, in England. The building accommodates the offices and meeting place of Runnymede Borough Council as well as a library and police station.
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