UK SCOUTING'S HEADQUARTERS MOVES TO ONE FOREST LOCATION
7th May 2000
A Foundation Stone for new offices was laid today at Gilwell Park, on the edge of Epping Forest, marking a significant step forward to streamline the organisation of the UK Scout Association.
Chief Scout George Purdy performed the ceremony in the presence of specially invited guests and members of the Committee of the Council, the top policy making body for the UK Scout Movement. Guests at the ceremony included Eleanor Laing, MP for Epping Forest, and John Burgess, Chief Executive of Epping Forest District Council.
The new two-storey building is scheduled for completion in November this year and is expected to be fully operational early in 2001. It will eventually house 115 staff with the relocation of jobs from Lancing on the South Coast and the central London offices. The 50 staff moving in will join the 65 staff already working at Gilwell Park. The famous Baden-Powell House Hostel in central London will continue to provide a location for young people from all round the world to stay in the capital.
The new building has been carefully designed to blend in with the existing Grade 2 listed 'White House' and to complement the other buildings on the estate with its low profile and sympathetic design features. The 108-acre estate is mainly used for camping and training, by several local schools and community groups as well as Scouts.
Commenting on the event, Derek Twine, Chief Executive of the Scout Association said: "Plans to concentrate all the staff at one location have been debated and discussed for years. The advantages of now being housed under 'one-roof' include much greater integration of common services, more effective inter-departmental working, and efficiency improvements, all of which will enable us to deliver better support to the half-million strong UK Scout Movement.
"We are particularly grateful to the Members and Officers of Epping Forest District Council for their valuable help and assistance in producing a building that preserves the sensitive nature of the estate, " said Mr Twine.
The total cost of the building works is £2 ¼ million. The sale of the existing office space in central London is anticipated to cover most of this.
The building contract was awarded to Mansell & Co, Project Managers are the AYH Partnership, and TP Bennett are the architects.
For millions of people throughout the world, Gilwell Park is known as a centre of adult Leader training and also as a camping ground for young people from across the globe. It has been in the in the possession of the Scout Association for more than 80 years. The completion of the office development at Gilwell will not mark the end of the story however. Long-term plans are now being reviewed to make sure that the accommodation and activity facilities for young people are also updated to make it an even more attractive centre of Scouting, combining the traditional 'green-fields' type of activity with modern community amenities.
