Two more government buildings in Whitehall have closed, the Government Property Agency has confirmed.
Windsor House and Albany House were closed in September and November 2024 respectively, the GPA has announced. Civil servants based in those buildings have been relocated to other properties on the government office estate.
Some 1,200 civil servants from Homes England, the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service, National Savings and Investments and the Office of Manpower Economics have been relocated from Windsor House, 42-50 Victoria Street, which was once home to the Department for International Trade.
Around 500 officials have been moved from Albany House, a government office on Petty France that faces the Ministry of Justice's headquarters.
The closures are part of the Whitehall Campus Programme, which aims to reduce the central London estate by 55% and “create a campus of high-quality, shared workspaces that enable smarter working and provide better value for money”.
Earlier this year, the GPA revealed that the DWP headquarters, Caxton House, would close in 2026, with civil servants to be relocated to Sanctuary Buildings. It also said an exit from 102 Petty France – the HQ for the MoJ, Government Legal Department, Crown Prosecution Service and HM Courts and Tribunals Service – is planned in 2028.
Last year, the GPA closed 1 Victoria Street, the former headquarters of the business department, as part of its estates rationalisation programme. Staff were relocated to government-wide hub buildings at 3-8 Whitehall Place, 55 Whitehall and 22-26 Whitehall, and other sites in the area.
The GPA said the closure of 1VS has started to generate substantial savings of approximately £30m in annual running costs and around £300m 20-year net present value (NPV). NPV is the difference between the present value of cash inflows and the present value of cash outflows over a period of time.
Rupert Palmer, deputy director, capital projects for the Whitehall Campus Programme said: “Our collaboration with clients continues to enable us to make significant savings for the civil service.
“As part of the Whitehall Campus Programme we will see a reduction from 84 buildings to around 20 buildings across London, which is currently planned to accommodate 40,000 civil servants by 2030. It will also release more than 312,000 square metres of space – the equivalent of around 44 football pitches.”