HMRC says it has "largely addressed" the problem of office lights being left on at its Nottingham Unity Square building and says the average monthly electric bill there is £93,000. HMRC signed a 25-year lease for the nine-storey office block, opposite Nottingham Railway Station, in 2018.
Thousands of employees, some of whom work for other Government departments, then moved in over April and May this year. In recent days, criticism has been mounting from people walking past the building at night who have captured all of the office lights in it still shining.
HMRC has told Nottinghamshire Live that the average occupancy rate for the building is 1,300, with HMRC sharing the building with other government departments. Since April 2022, when Unity Square opened, HMRC also says that the average monthly electric bill has been £93,000 - but lighting is only one element of this.
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Several people have spotted the lighting problem, with some describing the building as having been "lit up like a Christmas tree" despite nobody appearing to be inside it. Lilian Greenwood, the Labour MP for Nottingham South, said: "I wrote to HMRC back in September about this because lots of constituents, particularly in The Meadows, were seeing this building being so brightly lit and were wondering why it was happening.
"We're obviously dealing with a cost of living crisis at the moment and people are really struggling and thinking about how they are going to pay their fuel bills, so seeing this was obviously a bit of a shocker for them. HMRC replied to me saying that their lighting system needed tweaking but they have obviously been in this building for months now and they've had a long time to sort these issues out."
In their reply to Lilian Greenwood, HMRC said that the lights in Unity Square are motion activated, meaning they are normally triggered by people moving around. But the organisation said once activated, the lights are currently programmed to stay on for 30 minutes.
Coupled with the fact that security staff constantly conduct regular patrols, this explains why the building's lights never appear to be switched off. But some people in Nottingham said the current situation shows a lack of "common sense".
Steve Bradford, 59, who lives in The Meadows, said: "It was obviously a lot of money moving from their old Nottingham office to this one, which I didn't really understand, and now there is this.
"The problem is that it isn't really HMRC paying the electricity bill, it's all of us. They definitely need to sort something out."
Anne Freeman, 75, who lives in Clifton, said: "They obviously need to be sorting something out and I can't understand why they can't just have people turning the lights off when they've left a room. It just seems common sense that they should be switching the lights off and even with the motion sensors, they should have sorted this out a long time ago."
Chris Graham, 43, who lives in Hucknall, said: "I've heard that even before anyone moved into the building the lights were always being left on. We're all obviously watching our bills at the moment so they should probably be thinking about theirs a bit more."
HMRC said contractors have been on site this week to fix the motion sensor issue and that the time the lights will be left on for after being activated will be "significantly reduced." After 8.15pm, HMRC says that all lights will be switched off and that they will only come on after that time if movement is detected, but they will only stay on for five minutes after being activated.
An HMRC spokesperson said: "We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and sustainability is at the heart of our regional centres. We work to ensure all our buildings operate effectively and efficiently.
"We have largely addressed the issues with the programming of the lighting system in Unity Square and the position is now significantly improved. We will be carefully monitoring this."
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