Spending Like There Is No Tomorrow - Douglas Town Hall's Residents Now Look For Plush Luxury Accommodation

[Gladys]

Now I fully expect to be flamed here, but has anyone thought of the contrary view? You know like a good working environment is actually beneficial in terms of morale, productivity and recruiting and keeping good quality staff? I know public services and prestige office accommodation are something of an anathema, but the old saying was 'pay peanuts, get monkeys', perhaps this extends to the office environment as well.

 

If it is hopelessly over the top then, yes, there are grounds for complaint, but much of the build cost for offices is getting the technology in (cabling, trunking, power etc) that a lick of paint and some nice carpet doesn't add a lot to the bill, but does improve the environment immensely. Is that so wrong?

[Heathen]

 

Ohhh, sorry I'm late, there was trouble at the lab with the running and the exploding and the crying when the monkeys stole the glasses off my head! (screen fades to black) Oh, no, please no... I have a funny story, if you listen. I even wrote theme music, listen!

 

Ahh-ha, hey hey

Professor Frink, Professor Frink

He'll make you laugh, he'll make you think

He likes to run

And then the thing with the.. person..

 

Oh boy, that monkey is going to pay.

 

[joeyconcrete]

You know like a good working environment is actually beneficial in terms of morale, productivity and recruiting and keeping good quality staff?

 

In my last job I spent sometime in Europe (Geneva\Brussels) and their places of work put local ones to shame. Nice airy offices, good furniture, great designs, ergonomic with some very clever touches - it did look like something from Ikea but was very cool, and very modern (although some were deliberately retro). The staff there liked working there and it showed. I'm a believer that a good working environment and surroundings means everyone works better. One of my first office jobs was sat behind some crappy desk (Looked like it was from Balla) with a red plastic chair to sit on.. It's finding a balance though.

[grant]

I think giving women employees vibrating chairs could well make them happy, but would they be any more productive?

[Albert Tatlock]

You know like a good working environment is actually beneficial in terms of morale, productivity and recruiting and keeping good quality staff?

 

In my last job I spent sometime in Europe (Geneva\Brussels) and their places of work put local ones to shame. Nice airy offices, good furniture, great designs, ergonomic with some very clever touches - it did look like something from Ikea but was very cool, and very modern (although some were deliberately retro). The staff there liked working there and it showed. I'm a believer that a good working environment and surroundings means everyone works better. One of my first office jobs was sat behind some crappy desk (Looked like it was from Balla) with a red plastic chair to sit on.. It's finding a balance though.

The problem in the UK and the IOM is that we have let property prices and land ownership get out of control - and personal/business expenditure on property is far higher here than it is in Europe. Also Europe frees up 13-15% of 'countryside' to build on, whilst we free up only 10% and so space to build, and hence property supply is hindered.

 

Until we see houses as homes, and offices as places we would like to work, then things will not change. This can be done by either land reform or immigration controls of which we have neither at present, and so the situation is only getting worse. High prices only suit banks - and those who managed to get their mortgage already, whilst even their own children will struggle, or have to wait until parents die to own their own homes - unless the situation changes.

 

Until we fundamentally change our viewpoint on this, and adopt European models, we will generally continue to live in small houses and work in shitty offices - whilst handing the banks disproportionately large amounts of our wages just for the privelage of doing so. In the UK, the government have now entrapped millions more people into paying inheritance tax - money that they have earned and had to pay interest on previously just to hand it back to the government.

 

The current situation is devisive, discourages people from going into nursing/teaching and similar vocations, and is damaging society - and only the finance sector, the UK government (and the record numbers of people currently leaving the country) are really benefiting from the situation.

[Lonan3]

LINK TO STORY that copycrap couldn't be bothered with.

 

MAJOR refurbishment of Douglas town hall costing £300,000 is to start in January.

The timing is to avoid affecting the annual Christmas lights switch-on and will see two thirds of the money spent on the exterior and the remainder on upgrading the interior.

 

Council leader David Christian said: 'It is 11 years since we did it before and the wood work and stone work need attention in many areas.

 

'Because it is such a prestigious building, the work is to be done in the winter not in the summer season.

 

'The building is a focal point in the town, with attention focused on it during the TT centenary celebrations.'

[Gladys]

'The building is a focal point in the town, with attention focused on it during the TT centenary celebrations.'[/i]

 

That is news to me!

[Albert Tatlock]

'The building is a focal point in the town, with attention focused on it during the TT centenary celebrations.'[/i]

 

That is news to me!

TT - I think he means Toy Town.

[copycat]

thinking what was said about the Barclays building on separate thread can anyone tell me why the Corpy shouldn't sell the Town Hall building and lease it back or lease some other modern building thus putting the repair and maintenance costs etc onto a landlord?

[TerryMcCann]

thinking what was said about the Barclays building on separate thread can anyone tell me why the Corpy shouldn't sell the Town Hall building and lease it back or lease some other modern building thus putting the repair and maintenance costs etc onto a landlord?

 

Probably because people like you would go apeshit, complaining about their rates being wasted on rent if they did.

[homarus]

Now I fully expect to be flamed here, but has anyone thought of the contrary view? You know like a good working environment is actually beneficial in terms of morale, productivity and recruiting and keeping good quality staff? I know public services and prestige office accommodation are something of an anathema, but the old saying was 'pay peanuts, get monkeys', perhaps this extends to the office environment as well.

 

If it is hopelessly over the top then, yes, there are grounds for complaint, but much of the build cost for offices is getting the technology in (cabling, trunking, power etc) that a lick of paint and some nice carpet doesn't add a lot to the bill, but does improve the environment immensely. Is that so wrong?

 

Good quality staff in the corpy???

"hmmm" thats pretty funny?

 

Having said that , the guy that gave me a parking ticket this morning was pretty efficient ," the sh*t"!!!