Jersey Water buys £7.7m new HQ

Friday 16 December 2022

Jersey Water has spent £7.7m on a property in St. Saviour which will become its new headquarters.

The “substantial” new Rue des Pres offices will be occupied by the utility company’s operational team from 2024, and its plan to redevelop its Millbrook depot in Waterworks Valley will no longer be going ahead.

In its annual report, Jersey Water said that the Rue des Pres site would provide a "more financially and operationally viable solution to our long-term needs".

The utility company moved out of its previous headquarters, Mulcaster House, on Westmount Road last year after the building was purchased for £3.2m to make way for the previous Government's proposed £800m 'health campus' at Overdale.

While a review by Infrastructure Minister Deputy Tom Binet concluded that the plan was no longer financially viable, Jersey Water confirmed last month that they had no plans to move back to the site even if the land was no longer needed.

The Jersey Water team is currently operating out of temporary offices, with the corporate services team in St. Helier and the operational team in St. Saviour.

Pictured: Jersey Water said its new Rue des Pres home would provide a "more financially and operationally viable solution to our long-term needs".

However, according to the business's annual report, work has begun to bring the entire Jersey team "under one roof" at the new Rue Des Pres site.

Between now and 2024, the building is to be refurbished with a new laboratory, stores and workshops, as well as offices. 

According to the company's annual report, in 2022, the company's total capital expenditure was around £11m, with £7,689,000 of this going towards the new property, which was funded through a combination of borrowing and "surplus cash".

The report said that operating costs were higher than anticipated at £15.5m, partially due to the "write-off of costs associated with redeveloping the Millbrook site following a revision of our property strategy due to the purchase of our new site at Rue des Pres, as well as inflation and increased insurance premiums.

Pictured top: The former head office at Mulcaster House, Westmount Road.