Tenerife Council Relocates Staff, Seeks New Offices Amid Renovation

The Tenerife Island Council is looking for new places to rent so it can move some of its administrative departments and staff. This move is necessary because renovation work has restarted on an annex building, which will expand the Council's facilities.

The first group of about 30 employees, out of 500 who work at the main headquarters, will move to the top floor of the Post Office building. This temporary relocation, under a lease agreement, is expected to happen in the next three to four weeks. The Council has already looked at the market to find suitable rental spaces near the Island Palace, with the long-term goal of creating new administrative offices around the central building.

Preparing the Post Office floor for use is part of an initiative by the current Council. This project had been stalled for years, which sources from the island government (CC and PP) blame on "the inaction of the previous PSOE government (2019-2023)." They see this as "a change of direction" towards "more efficient, planned management focused on improving public services."

The Heritage Service will be in charge of managing these leases and planning how the new administrative campus will be set up. The Council also published a general request for information on the State Contracting Platform. This was mainly to identify available spaces for rent when needed, but also for other internal activities. The ongoing construction work makes it essential to temporarily move staff.

The Council is looking for specific types of premises. They need a minimum area of 450 square meters and must be located within three kilometers of the Island Palace. The buildings should have multiple floors and be designed to allow access for people with mobility or communication difficulties, as required by law. Additionally, they must be well-connected, have an energy efficiency certificate, be in good condition, have proper ventilation and air conditioning, and be suitable for immediate use as offices and administrative departments.

The main goal of renovating the annex building is to solve the current lack of space in the Island Palace. It also aims to bring together services that are currently spread across various rented premises in the center of Santa Cruz, which will improve organization and reduce costs from multiple rentals. The new spaces will mainly be used for services that support all departments, for official representation, and for areas that need a central location.

The annex building, which covers 5,649 square meters, has been out of use since late 2013. Work on it finally resumed last September after another delay of more than six months. The project to renovate the building first began in 2018 when Carlos Alonso (CC) was president of the Island Council. In 2019, it was announced that the work would take three more years, aiming for completion in 2022. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays and changes, eventually leading to the cancellation of the original contract. Now, ASCH is the company carrying out the renovation, a project costing 12.5 million euros and expected to take 26 months.

The Tenerife Island Council employs 1,980 direct staff and 7,400 indirect staff. Hundreds of these employees previously moved in September 2018 to the former Telefónica building on Alcalde Mandillo Tejera street in La Cruz del Señor, Santa Cruz, when the annex building currently being renovated was first vacated.

The main building, designed by architect José Enrique Marrero Regalado in 1940, has been waiting for its facade renovation to be completed for almost a decade. According to the administrative structure defined in 2023, this building houses the departments of Presidency, Equality and Diversity, Finance and Strategic Projects, Administration and Public Service, Territorial Planning and Historical Heritage, and Mobility and Roads.

Other departments are located in different parts of the city: Tourism, External Action and Institutional Relations, and Research, Innovation and Development are at the Fairgrounds. Social Action, Inclusion, Volunteering and Citizen Participation are in the El Mástil Building on Anaga Avenue. The Santiago Martín Pavilion in La Laguna hosts Natural Environment, Sustainability and Emergencies, and Sports. The former Telefónica headquarters accommodates Industry, Commerce, Primary Sector and Animal Welfare, and Municipal Cooperation and Housing. Finally, Culture is based at Tenerife Espacio de las Artes (TEA), and Employment, Education and Youth, and Museums are at MUNA, highlighting how spread out the Council's operations currently are.