The Department for International Development (DfID) will save up to £10m a year in reduced rent and other overheads after moving its London office from Buckingham Gate to Whitehall.
The department said it will save £62.5m by 2020 following the move, which was completed last week. The move was projected to cost £8.4m but actual costs were more than £1m under this projection. Adrian Blundell, deputy director of DfID’s human resources, security and facilities division, told CSW that the money was saved by good project management and “a competitive environment for bids so we were able to negotiate quite considerable reductions" on contracts.
More than 800 DfID staff are now working in the building – 22-26 Whitehall – which previously housed 600 Cabinet Office staff. To achieve this high occupancy rate, Blundell explained, everyone except for ministers and their private office staff are now ‘hot desking’, and the department has invested in new technology such as wifi and videoconferencing facilities so that staff can work remotely or in informal seating areas within the building.
Just under 50 posts were relocated to DfID’s office in East Kilbride, where running costs are about 25 per cent cheaper than in London.