Lewisham Council 4th in office refurbishment league [UPDATED]

Stung by criticism of their own office refurbishment costs at Broadcasting House, the BBC has compiled a list of local councils, ranking them by the amount they have spent on office refurbishments over the last three years. Lewisham is fourth in a list dominated by London Councils, having £2.38m since 2008.

We're not sure what, if anything, this tells us about the rigour of Lewisham's cost controls. That London Councils face higher office costs than other parts of the country is not news. Depending when you measure, different councils will be at different places in their office refurbishment cycles - Lewisham may be relatively high now, because it was relatively low in the previous three years.

Unless anyone tells us that the taps in Catford are solid gold and that Mayor Bullock has his own executive roof terrace, we can't see any scandal.

UPDATE:

The Council has provided us with the detail of their original FOI response to the BBC, which explains how the money was spent, noting that there has been no refurbishment since the 1960s when their office was built.

Project spend 2008-09

LTH - Fire safety works to the Ground floor £280,271.88
Town Hall Electrical System - Rewiring £579,186.45
Town Hall Boiler Renewal £693,538.63
Town Hall Roof Renewal £315,264.91

Project spend 2009-10
Town Hall Electrical System - Rewiring £63,336.75

Town Hall Boiler Renewal £2,511.71
Town Hall Roof Renewal £49,861.06

Project Spend 2010/11
LTH - Fire Safety works to the Ground floor £7,500.00
Town Hall Electrical System - Rewiring £15,592.93
Town Hall Boiler Renewal £16,166.59
Town Hall Roof Renewal £8,474.86

Move along people, nothing to see here.