'EVERYTHING is in place' to ensure council employees' move to new offices in 2020 as part of the multi-million pound Time Square scheme is a 'success'.

Gareth Hopkins, the council's assistant director for customer and business transformation, provided an update on the project at Tuesday's organisational improvement and development policy committee meeting.

Since January, meetings between architect Vinci Construction and the authority have been taking place, with emphasis on ICT and facilities management within the town centre building.

And 'work streams' have been identified 'to plan the journey' to the new site over the next two years.

They focus on technology, facilities management and staff, with a fourth one, which will be responsible for reviewing the design and operation of the public-facing ground floor, under development.

The next construction phase of the Time Square project, phase four, involves the development of the offices, events square, permanent market hall and cinema.

Mr Hopkins told committee members the move will deliver financial savings in the long term by allowing staff to leave old buildings with 'expensive running costs'.

He said: "Phase four is now being built, the new cinema is coming out of the ground at the moment.

"We are two years away and there is a lot of work for us to do as an organisation before we move people from New Town House and Quattro and other buildings.

"It is a really exciting time for staff – it will be a great new building.

"In short, we have everything in place to make sure this is a successful move for staff but there is a lot to do.

"I guess I can't overstate how significant this will be for the organisation – we will be moving half of staff into the building.

"We are moving significantly away from paper when we move in that building in 2020."

Registrars will also be homed at the site, which will feature a ceremony room.

However, concerns were raised by Cllr Linda Dirir.

She said: "Are we not going to lose something if it is just a room in an office block?"

Mr Hopkins replied: "I don't think we lose anything, it will be more modern.

"It is a relatively small number of weddings we are looking at transferring."

A room to allow residents to come in and view planning applications also forms part of the design plan, although proposals need to be discussed in more detail.

Cllr Peter Walker highlighted the importance of keeping relevant records as part of the shift to the 'paper-light' office.

He said: "Do we not need to establish our policies really firmly before we completely design the way the building operates?

"We need to make sure we are keeping, in a safe, all the necessary records to ensure that we can operate as a council and for the people who depend on us, so they won't be left in the dark."

Mr Hopkins responded to Cllr Walker.

He said: "We do have a big exercise under way and are making sure we have got destruction policies.

"We won't be destroying anything unless we are absolutely sure of it."