THE 1960s building which is home to a county council would cost millions to bring up to date and should be demolished, according to a report.

Durham County Council, which is moving forward with plans to demolish its headquarters at Aykley Heads and use the land to develop a business park, says it would cost £75.8m to modernise the building.

It says there is a £26.3m backlog of maintenance, while a further £49.5m would be needed to modernise it.

It has carried out a cost evaluation of various options around staying at County Hall and moving to other locations and says the option offering the “best value” is to move to Durham city centre.

It is envisaged the building would have space for 700 desks and 1,000 employees.

The council has invited developers to bring forward sites under their control as possible locations for the new headquarters and has also identified the council-owned Sands car park as a possibility.

Four bidders were invited to submit tenders last year but the council has not commented on who the preferred bidder to take on the project is.

The council says it will cost around £50m to demolish County Hall and relocate to the city centre.

However, their cost analysis has been questioned by independent councillor John Shuttleworth.

He said: “Given we are living in times of severe austerity, the scheme in ill thought out and only a vision, nothing certain. It’s all very well spending other peoples money when it’s not your own.

“The costs associated with demolishing County Hall certainly need some clarification.”