Council-owned office complex set to be sold

An office complex bought by a debt-ridden council for £6.3m is set to be sold off.

Slough Borough Council has owned Upton Lodge in Yew Tree Road in the town since 2018, when it bought it as part of a strategy to buy property.

It is currently let to the Department for Work and Pensions but the deal has less than four years to run and is “highly unlikely” to be renewed, the authority said.

Its cabinet committee for asset disposals is expected to approve the sale on 11 July.

The council said it had collected £1.9m in rental income in the last six years.

But the value for office space had “fallen significantly” after a “decline in the office investment market” since the pandemic, it said.

The authority hopes to raise about £600m from selling assets.

It had hoped that would have been achieved by March 2027 but a council report said that was “unrealistic” because some sales were delayed.

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