The building has been closed since 2020 following the discovery of “serious safety and structural issues” but is now being upgraded and expanded, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Construction work has begun on the site of Haringey Civic Centre where new offices and restored public spaces will be delivered.

Ground was broken today (Thursday 1st) on the major £65million refurbishment and expansion scheme for the Grade 2-listed building in Wood Green.

The building has been closed since 2020 following the discovery of “serious safety and structural issues” but is now being upgraded and expanded.

A new annex, offices and restored civic spaces including a new council chamber will be delivered, accommodating more than 900 council staff and hundreds of visitors.

In addition, Haringey Council says the revamp will prioritise sustainability and eco-friendly design. The plans won approval from councillors in September 2023.

Steven McGee, chief operating officer at John Sisk & Son, the construction company carrying out the work, thanked the council and his team and added how difficult it was to come up with a plan to “replace a building or renew a building”.

He said: “It takes a hell of a lot of effort, a hell of a lot of consultation, challenges to get through planning, to get the design, you go through a tender process, it’s all challenging, it’s all difficult.”

McGee added: “One thing we do when we come into a place to build is we employ local people, we embrace the local community. 

“You will find us to be a good neighbour you can’t build without making a bit of noise and a bit of dust.”

He concluded saying the council “took a brave decision” not demolishing the building and “just putting up something new” and thanked the council for choosing the company.

Southgate and Wood Green MP Bambos Charalambous, also in attendance at today’s ground-breaking ceremony, highlighted the building “wasn’t fit for the present day” and said the improvements would create a “good space where people want to come to work”.

The Labour MP said everybody had a “connection with this civic centre” adding his parents came to the building to collect his birth certificate following his birth “just up the road on Alexandra Park Road”. 

Peray Ahmet, leader of Haringey Council, pointed out the building, which opened its doors in 1958, was older than the actual borough of Haringey, which came into being in 1965. 

Cllr Ahmet said: “Since then the civic centre has been a space for voices, very often rebellious ones, whether it’s gay rights, women’s rights, or the antinuclear quarantine apartheid movement.

“In more recent history it witnessed the election of Bernie Grant in 1985 the first ever Black leader of a local authority in Europe. It’s where thousands of our residents became UK citizens, it’s where many of us got married including myself.

“It’s great to be returning a building that joins our past to the future, because at the heart of all of this is that our residents in Haringey deserve to have a building that they can be proud of.”

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