New Shire Hall is a municipal building on Emery Crescent,

Alconbury Weald Alconbury Weald is a new settlement in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, in the Huntingdonshire district, of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. The settlement lies to the north-west of the town of Huntingdon, and to the south of Peterborou ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England, built in 20192020. It is the headquarters of

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council for non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county, which additionally includes the City o ...

History

Cambridgeshire County Council was created in 1889 and was previously based at various premises in the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, notably including County Hall, Cambridge from 1914 to 1932 and

Shire Hall, Cambridge Shire Hall is a former municipal building in Castle Hill in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. It was the headquarters of Cambridgeshire County Council from 1932 until 2021, when the council moved to New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, some 23 ...

from 1932 to 2021. In December 2017, as part of a cost-saving scheme, the county council announced plans to move to a smaller purpose-built facility at

, a new settlement being developed on the

RAF Alconbury Royal Air Force Alconbury, or more simply RAF Alconbury, is an active Royal Air Force station near Huntingdon, England, that for many years was used by the USAF. The airfield is in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, close to the villages of G ...

site in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

The Stukeleys The Stukeleys is a civil parish in the district of Huntingdonshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, consisting of the villages of Great Stukeley and Little Stukeley, and the new settlement of Alconbury Weald being built on the old RAF Alconbury site ...

, to the north-west of the town of Huntingdon. The site at Alconbury Weald had historically been in the county of

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

, which had been absorbed into Cambridgeshire in 1974. The county council's proposed move to Alconbury Weald was approved by the full county council in May 2018. The county council decided to name the new building at Alconbury Weald "New Shire Hall". It was built by contractors R. G. Carter to plans by the architectural firm of

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (also known as AHMM) is the fourth-largest architecture practice in the United Kingdom with offices based in London and Bristol, as well as international studios in Madrid, Sydney and Oklahoma City. Allford Hall Mona ...

, with construction work starting in December 2019. The new building was reported to cost £18.3 million. The final committee meeting to be held at Shire Hall was on 12 March 2020. Meetings were then held online due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

for the rest of 2020 and first part of 2021, during which time the council vacated Shire Hall and moved to New Shire Hall, with the first committee meeting at New Shire Hall being held in September 2021. An official opening ceremony was held on 8 July 2022, and the first meeting of the full county council to be held in the building followed later that month.

References

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Government buildings completed in 2020