A £23MILLION project to refurbish Southend’s Civic Centre has been scaled back because of the recession, it has been revealed.

Southend Council wants to revamp parts of the 40-year-old building, including making the tower block more eco-friendly and creating a new atrium-style public entrance to its customer care centre.

The council has set aside £23million for the whole project after ruling out building new headquarters on another site in Southend town centre.

However, plans to build a multi-storey car park next to the Civic Centre and revamp the Civic Suite, used by the mayor and councillors, have been put on the backburner.

Andrew Moring, Tory councillor responsible, said: “We’ve scaled the plans so the Civic Suite and the car park are now possibilities for the future.

“Finance is in short supply in the current climate, so the cost benefits couldn’t be justified.

“We are seeing what we can get for our money and want to make the total as low as possible. The £23million is a ceiling of what we would spend.

“The plan is to refurbish the tower block where most people work to fit in more staff and reduce the carbon footprint.

“This should decrease our overheads and running costs.”

Mr Moring said this would involve fitting in more desks in and getting rid of unnecessary filing cabinets.

The council also wants to put solar panels on the roof and get rid of the air conditioning to cut down on energy costs.

It also has plans to create a bigger, glass-fronted atrium area for the customer service centre entrance and perhaps build a new coffee shop in the refreshments area.

The council is looking at a floor-by-floor refurbishment which would allow the council to carry on operating while the work was going on.

The Tory cabinet recently agreed to appoint London-based EC Harris as the contractors to carry out the works.

Lib Dem leader Graham Longley said: “It’s an extremely high sum of money and that has to be looked at extremely carefully.

“We will be looking to see if there are things included that don’t need to be. We are supporting the concept of a refurbishment because it is the cheapest option.

“From time to time, civic centres have to be renewed in some way and the building has a lot of life left in it.”

Work should begin within the financial year, but Mr Moring said the timescales would depend on EC Harris.