Deal agreed to move 200 nuclear jobs into community
Sellafield Ltd will relocate employees to West Cumbria House, Lillyhall, under a 10-year lease agreement with Cumbria County Council.
West Cumbria House, Lillyhall
The move is part of the company’s long-term strategy to move people off the Sellafield site and into neighbouring towns.
This clears valuable space for decommissioning projects while reducing traffic and providing an economic boost to the community.
Work will begin soon to renovate the building, with employees expected to move in later this year.
The project will help to deliver the county council’s Better Places for Work programme, which is part of its modernisation programme to transform offices and increase efficiency.
The move also supports the ‘One Public Estate’ programme, led by the Local Government Association, which aims to bring back-office teams together to generate increased efficiency and encourage partnership working.
Having two large organisations sharing an office space helps to drive further partnership working, and the associated savings and efficiencies that come with key local partners co-locating.
Jamie Reed, head of corporate affairs at Sellafield Ltd, said:
Moving people off the Sellafield site frees up valuable space for decommissioning so that we can make Sellafield safer, sooner and reduce the number of vehicles on the roads.
Crucially, this also stimulates economic activity in our towns and makes employment opportunities more accessible for people in our local communities.
This ensures we’re generating maximum the social impact for our area from the Sellafield mission.
Councillor David Southward, Cumbria County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Property, said:
This is a fantastic example of working in partnership with Sellafield and will help reduce congestion at the Sellafield site, whilst also providing a fantastic new premises for the staff relocating to West Cumbria House.
It will also provide a boost to the local economy at Lillyhall and the surrounding area with the arrival of an additional 200 people.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone involved for their efforts in making this project a success and we look forward to sharing office space with Sellafield at West Cumbria House later this year.
Councillor Allan Barry, Chair of Cumbria County Council’s Local Committee for Allerdale, said:
This is brilliant news for Allerdale.
The district will benefit hugely from 200 Sellafield jobs and also presents a fantastic opportunity for us to build on this partnership working, whilst maximising the use and efficiency of our office spaces.
I know a lot of hard work has gone in to this project, which is a fantastic opportunity for both Sellafield and the county council, and I’m sure that the Sellafield teams moving to West Cumbria House will receive a very warm welcome.