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Council Leader, Cllr Jonathan Brook recently paid a site visit to inspect progress on the building work at the Council’s Voreda House office in Penrith.
The Voreda House Programme is an ambitious project to retrofit an existing office building in the centre of the Penrith to PassivHaus standards. Once complete, the building will provide comfortable, flexible and modern office space for agile staff working and a welcoming environment for residents to access their council services.
Work to retrofit Voreda House began at the end of March 2022 and is due to be completed by the end of September 2023.
During his visit Cllr Brook heard that the new flat roof installation is complete, as is the installation of windows, ensuring the building is now watertight, whilst work to fit the external cladding continues.
 As the project moves into the summer months, the internal works are starting to take shape and work on the external groundworks is underway.
Cllr Brook said, “This is a very exciting project for the Council as we look to secure modern, fit-for-purpose and environmentally friendly accommodation for our staff in Voreda House. The project also ensures that the Council’s is leading by example on its key climate priorities and the drive to become carbon net zero.
“It’s been fantastic to review progress to date and to get a sense of the scale of work involved in the project. I’m looking forward to watching the project as it continues and to hearing how staff, members and the public react to what promises to be an extraordinary building.”
 Once construction has finished, the commissioning and familiarisation phase of the project can begin, prior to occupation. This phase will mark the beginning of the fit out of the building ahead of operational testing to ensure that everything is working as expected.
It was recently announced that the process of transferring staff into Voreda House will begin in January 2024, with small numbers of staff moving into the building initially, whilst operational testing continues and more staff are gradually transferred.
This process will conclude at the end of March 2024, when the final transfer of staff will take place.
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