Construction work at the new City Hall last month
(Picture: Ross Lydall)The opening of London’s new City Hall descended further into farce on Thursday when staff were told it was still not ready - four days before they were due to move in.
There is now no official opening date - leaving politicians and bureaucrats stuck in temporary offices or forced to continue working from home.
Hundreds of Greater London Authority employees, working for mayor Sadiq Khan or the London Assembly, had been due to move to the Royal Docks next Monday.
This was already several months later than planned after contractors fell well behind schedule converting the former Crystal exhibition centre into the new home of London government.
On Thursday morning GLA staff - who have been temporarily camped at the London fire brigade headquarters in Southwark - were told the move was on hold again.
However, the city hall chamber - which was opened last month - will remain open and is due to host a couple of meetings next week.
Susan Hall, leader of the GLA Conservatives, said: “This has been an absolutely bungled operation from start to finish.
“We were only told that the Crystal is not fit for occupation with two working days’ notice, with only the highest-profile meetings being held at the Crystal.
“How can we trust the mayor to run London when he can’t even organise an office move across London?”
A GLA spokesman said: “The new City Hall will be holding next week’s Mayor’s Question Time and the Assembly Plenary meetings as planned.
“It is disappointing that some last-minute delays to the new City Hall’s building systems have delayed handover from our contractors.
“We are awaiting final confirmation on when these vital works will be completed, at which point we will confirm the move in date. It is still expected that staff will move into the building in the coming weeks, once the final preparations are complete.
“The move will save the GLA Group £61m over five years which will be used to help protect vital front-line services including in policing, the London Fire Brigade, and the capital’s transport network, as well as investing further in London’s economic recovery from the pandemic.”
The new City Hall hosted its first public meeting - mayor’s question time - on January 20.
But there were problems with the heating, only one lavatory was open and it was shut again later that afternoon to allow construction work to continue.
The main contractor is ISG. The problems are understood to involve the “building maintenance system”.
The roadworks by subcontractor FM Conway outside the Crystal, including a change to the road layout to protect the building from terrorists, is not a reason for the delay.
Mr Khan hopes that moving City Hall east will help regenerate the Royal Docks and Canning Town.
But the area is currently poorly served by public transport - the Crossrail station at Custom House is not due to open until June, Tube passengers have to change onto the DLR at Canning Town and there is no protected cycling route or Boris bike docking station.
In addition, the cost of using the Emirates cable car from North Greenwich is being increased by 25 per cent and return tickets have been axed.
The London Assembly has launched an investigation into the cost of quitting the original City Hall, a purpose-built by Norman Foster beside Tower Bridge.
GLA officials have been ordered to hand over documents revealing how much of a rent reduction Mr Khan was offered to remain in place.
Ms Hall said: “We are yet to see the final figures, but the move could end up costing us the equivalent of nearly two years rent if we had stayed where we were, and that doesn’t consider the cost limbo has had on our essential scrutiny function.”
