SOUTH Gloucestershire Council’s new offices at Badminton Road in Yate have formally opened.

Staff from the authority’s planning, transportation and strategic environment department were the first to move in to the £32million development last week.

They included the department boss, director Peter Jackson, who cycled to work from his home town of Thornbury in an effort to support the council’s green travel plan.

More than 700 staff will be based at the offices, including the children and young people’s department and housing benefits team, but the development has just 312 car parking spaces.

Council deputy chief executive David Perry said: ‘We have worked very hard over the last year to make sure that we have adequate transport for staff to get to work.

"We are limited on car parking spaces as part of national planning legislation. But staff have been very good at identifying car sharing partners and we are pro-actively encouraging staff to get to work in as green a way as possible."

The building has already been awarded an excellent BREEAM (building research establishment environmental assessment method) rating for its energy efficiency. The development features solar panels, a biomass boiler, rainwater tanks, sensored lighting and windows.

More staff will move in over the coming weeks until the offices are fully up and running next month.