Occupancy at St Andrew's House and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for current and pre-pandemic average occupancy figures for St Andrews House (SAH) and Victoria Quay (VQ). You also asked for actual average staff numbers attending SAH and VQ on a weekly basis compared to the number based there on your HR records. You asked for the annual costs of providing offices at SAH and VQ.

Response

I enclose most of the information you requested in response to the specific questions below.

1. Current average office occupancy (as a percentage) for St Andrew's House (SAH). We can provide you with details of the number of Access swipes using the automatic Access Control System on first Tuesday of every month over the last 6 months as a percentage against building capacity. This is in line with data previously provided under Freedom of Information which is attached to this response.

June 23	July 23	August 23	Sept 23	Oct 23	Nov 23
41%	33%	38%	41%	43%	48%

2. Pre-pandemic average office occupancy as a percentage for SAH. We do not hold average occupancy details prior to the pandemic but can provide details that occupancy levels on 3rd March 2020 were 83% of available capacity.

3. Current average office occupancy (as a percentage) for Victoria Quay (VQ). We can provide you with details of the number of Access swipes using the automatic Access Control System on first Tuesday of every month over the last 6 months as a percentage against building capacity. This is in line with data previously provided under Freedom of Information which is attached to this response.

June 23	July 23	August 23	Sept 23	Oct 23	Nov 23
22%	16%	17%	22%	20%	24%

4. Pre-pandemic average office occupancy as a percentage for VQ. We do not hold average occupancy details prior to the pandemic but can confirm that occupancy levels on 3rd March 2020 were 75% of available capacity.

5. The actual average staff numbers attending SAH on a weekly basis compared to the number based there on your HR records. We cannot provide staff numbers, but we can provide you a percentage of attendance against those contracted to attend there based on attendance data taken on the 1st Tuesday of each month over the last 6 months.

June 23	July 23	August 23	Sept 23	Oct 23	Nov 23
28%	22%	25%	28%	29%	33%

6. The annual costs of providing offices at SAH. annual costs of providing offices between 1st April 2022 and 31st March 2023 was as follows: £1,335,203 The costs include utilities, catering, cleaning, waste removal, security and hard services.

7. The actual average staff numbers attending VQ on a weekly basis compared to the number based there on your HR records. We cannot provide staff numbers, but we can provide you a percentage of attendance against those contracted to attend there based on attendance data taken on the 1st Tuesday of each month over the last 6 months.

June 23	July 23	August 23	Sept 23	Oct 23	Nov 23
19%	14%	15%	19%	18%	21%

8. The annual costs of providing offices at VQ. annual costs of providing offices between 1st April 2022 and 31st March 2023 was as follows: £2,452,142 The costs include utilities, catering, cleaning, waste removal, security and hard services.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the average staff numbers attending St Andrews House and Victoria Quay because an exemption under section [ 39(1) endangerment to health and safety ] of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. For security reasons and to protect the welfare of staff and users of our building we cannot provide details of numbers of staff attending our buildings. We have provided this information as a percentage.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202300381864 - Information Released - SG Core Buildings

File type

4 page PDF

File size

189.8 kB