Dorset Council cabinet member councillor Tony Ferrari says the building of South Walks House and the expected decision to abandon it as council offices is not the disaster some claim.

The Weymouth councillor, who is portfolio holder for economic growth, assets and property, says the building has helped save money over the years and, if converted to flats, could benefit the county town again.

He says when the £9.7m building was put up by the former district council nobody could have anticipated the pandemic and the development of IT which now allows people to work away from an office.

The cabinet member says when the cost of the library and education centre, which make up more than 20 per cent of the building, is subtracted from the build price the cost of the council offices comes down to £7.7m.

He says that assuming the council had to pay rent of £380,000 a year, based on other Dorchester commercial properties rates, the nine years of use resulted in a saving of £3.4m.

Cllr Ferrari suggests that if converted to 40 flats selling for a combined total of £4.9million more than the costs of converting the building, it would mean, by his calculations, that the council could recoup, or save £8.3m on an expenditure of £7.7m.

Said Cllr Ferrari: "I accept that a number of these figures are uncertain: we never rented the office space and we won't know exactly what the value of the flats is until we sell them. However, if these numbers are correct, far from being a costly white elephant, as some have suggested, it means that for an expenditure of £7.7m we will recoup or save £8.3m.

"The building also allowed the merger of the organisations of the old West Dorset, North Dorset and Weymouth and Portland Councils. That made savings every year from the opening to 2019 when the unitary council was formed. Even if it had cost money to own the building, it delivered significant savings in the council's operating costs.

"Far from being a mistake, building South Walks House turned out to be a financially sensible decision that has turned out well in a very uncertain world. We cannot turn back the tide of reducing numbers of staff in offices every day but converting it to flats allows the building to continue to contribute to Dorchester and Dorset's economy. And in a world under pressure to deliver housing it delivers that most desirable option, homes on a brown field site.

"Building South Walks House was never a bad idea and converting it to something new is another good one."

Cllr Ferrari adds that the building was commissioned by a council which no longer exists at a time when the formation of the unitary council was a decade or more away and well before IT advances allowed the council to operate remotely.