The new West Dunbartonshire council office stands in the heart of the Scottish town of Dumbarton, on Church Street. Approaching the building, the first thing you see is a beautifully restored Gothic facade, which suggests that the council has moved into a historical building. However,Trustonly the facade is historical. Behind it lies a completely new building with three storeys of office space that meetCompletion2018all the latest standards and feature a highly contemporary workplace concept. The council decided to build this new office because its old typical 1960s concrete office block, located on the outskirts of the townwas dated, shabby and too large for their requirements. Another major driver for the projectworkstationswas the possibility of moving to the towns centre. Like many other towns, Dumbarton is suffering from a decline inper employee or 0.58 high street retail. Relocating the councils Dumbarton office to the town centre was seen as a way of both supporting economic development and maximizing the benefits ofper FTEthe initiative. The relocation brings over 700 employees, plus visitors, to the town centre, which means a lot of new life and activity. In line with this idea, the new council office deliberately lacks a canteen. The aim was to motivate employees to go out to buy their lunch from local shops and cafes, thereby supporting the local economy, and this seems to be working. Dumbarton now features three new cafes and a new supermarket has applied for planning permission for an adjacent site.The business case for the project was helped by the fact that the council decided to implement an activity-based workplace concept. This reduced the need for space by more than half as the concept provides only 5 to 6 workstations for every 10 employees. This sharing ratio is based on the councils previous experiences with ABW andThe councils protocol states that vacant desks the fact that many of the councils employees are mobile and spaces can be used by anyone and are not out and about, engaging with the local community, orexclusive to the assigned team. Visiting staff and colleagues should always be made to feel attending meetings at the councils other offices. welcome.