Number One Riverside open for business

Number 1 Riverside

Rochdale Council customer services centre, library and offices opens its doors to the public this week (Wednesday 13 March, 2013).

The development along the River Roch is called Number One Riverside and is a ‘one-stop-shop’ where residents can complete their council business in one visit to one location.

Number One Riverside will house over 2,000 members of staff from the council, NHS and key local partners such as Rochdale Development Agency (RDA).

The building has two wings, one on each side of a full glass atrium.

On the ground floor there is a new public library offering a wide range of books, CDs and DVDs for loan, free internet access and Wi-Fi.

The library will run a series of public events and adult training sessions.

Occupying the ground floor is our Customer Services Centre which has relocated to the new building on Smith Street from the former Municipal Offices, known locally as ‘the black box’. Customers can access advice about services, arrange council payments or investigate benefit and housing entitlements. There are free-standing self-service terminals where visitors can access advice and information via touchscreen computers.

The upper floors can only be accessed by key cards, improving the security of staff and all confidential data and documentation.

Meeting rooms and conference facilities are also available for local people and community groups to use.

The building has been designed to make the best use of heat and natural light helping to reduce carbon emissions and savings in energy usage and cost. 

Staff are moving into the building in a phased approach. Once all staff have fully relocated the old Municipal Offices, Telegraph House and the bus station will be demolished to make way for the proposed 150,000 sq ft retail development.