Woking Civic Offices is a municipal building in Gloucester Walk,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England. It is in use as the headquarters of

Woking Borough Council Woking Borough Council is the local authority for the borough of Woking in the county of Surrey, England. The council consists of 30 councillors, three for each of the 10 wards in the town. It is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrat Part ...

History

Following significant population growth, largely associated with the creation of various local institutions including a dramatic college and an invalid prison, the area became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1894. The new council initially established it offices in rented accommodation in The Broadway. However, after the rented accommodation was destroyed in a fire, the council moved to better accommodation in Commercial Road. New offices, designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The pr ...

, were built there in brick with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone dressings and completed in 1905. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing Commercial Road. The central section of three bays featured a round headed doorway with a fanlight flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s supporting a

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony is ...

; there was a French door on the first floor and a pediment containing a clock and two

oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...

above. The other bays were fenestrated with

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed and transomed windows. In the 1930s, with the increasing responsibilities of the council, the council leaders acquired a series of large houses in Guildford Road, Mount Herman Road and York Road to accommodate the extra staff. As part of the reorganisation of local government in 1974, Woking became a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

for the first time. In this context, the council leaders decided to commission new civic offices where all the staff would be co-located: they considered various sites including one in Guildford Road, but eventually selected a location adjacent to the

Basingstoke Canal The Basingstoke Canal is an English canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation. From Basingstoke, the canal passes through or near Greywell, North Warnborough, Odiham, Dogm ...

. The new building was designed in the Brutalist style, built in concrete and glass and was officially opened by the

Duke of Gloucester Duke of Gloucester () is a British royal title (after Gloucester), often conferred on one of the sons of the reigning monarch. The first four creations were in the Peerage of England and the last in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; the curren ...

on 20 April 1983. The council moved its staff into the new building in June 1983. The design involved a six-storey rectangular wing adjacent to Victoria Way with a similar but shorter wing extending southeast from the northeast corner of the main wing. The two wings formed a pedestrian courtyard known as Gloucester Square. The main structure was supplemented by an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al formation containing the council chamber, which was

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

ed out to the southwest, and allowed vehicular access at ground floor level. The borough

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

was installed on two of the external walls of this structure. Internally, the principal room was the council chamber which featured a stained-glass window behind the mayor's chair. The stained glass recalled various aspects of local history including the railway, the canal and the airport. An emergency control centre was established in the basement of the building. An extensive programme of refurbishment works to a design by Robinson Kenning & Gallagher was completed in 2019.

References

{{Woking Government buildings completed in 1983 City and town halls in Surrey Organisation headquarters in the United Kingdom Woking