Plans to move thousands of tax workers into India Buildings could be scrapped altogether

Plans to transfer around 3,000 tax office staff into a huge city centre building could be scrapped altogether, the ECHO has learned.

In July, large quantities of asbestos were uncovered at India Buildings , which caused the scheme to make the building HM Revenues and Customs' (HMRC) Merseyside base, to be delayed until the end of 2020.

The Grade II-listed building was undergoing a "major refurbishment", as BusinessLive reports .

There are now fears the move to Water Street will never take place, after staff were reportedly told "consideration is being given to the cancellation of the whole project", with it believed that alternative office accommodation is being looked at.

HMRC has said it is "aware" of the developments, and is "continuing to work with the developer", while Legal and General, which owns the building, is adamant the deal is "still progressing as planned".

An employee at the current offices at the Triad site in Bootle , told the ECHO that HMRC "seem to be about to pull the plug on the redevelopment".

He added: "The building was meant to be complete with staff having moved in from 2019 - the last update anticipated completion by the of 2020. HMRC have advised staff that consideration is being given to the cancellation of the whole India Buildings project.

"Staff were emailed with an update at 17:58 on Friday 23 August.

"£100,000s, possibly millions, [have been] spent on this project, [and it's caused] uncertainty to HMRC staff."

The Public and Commercial Services Union confirmed the reports, with General Secretary Mark Serwotka adding: “This is just another example of the failed HMRC office closure programme.

"The government are more concerned with cutting costs than collecting taxes and customs duties.

“With a calamitous no-deal Brexit on the horizon, the department that is supposed to be trying to cope with the fallout, is instead issuing redundancy notices to hard working staff and huge levels of expertise around tax and customs.”

When approached for comment by the ECHO, a statement from HMRC said: “We are aware of these latest developments and are continuing to work with the developer to understand the impacts and achieve a successful outcome.

"Our priority is to provide the workspaces our people deserve as part of our wider transformation.”

A spokeswoman from Legal and General added: “There has been some delay to the building works due to asbestos being uncovered. However this is being resolved and the building is not due to be delivered until next year and the deal is still progressing as planned.”

Top news stories

In 2017, HMRC said the move to India Buildings would see a "super call centre" created at the Grade II-listed site, with around 3,000 staff transferred from other local offices in one of the city's biggest commercial property deals in years.

But today's news means it may not even go ahead.

Styles and Wood, the company contracted to lead the renovation, has said it's now "waiting for instruction" from the developer to proceed after "400 tonnes" of asbestos contaminated material was removed from the site.

A spokeswoman said that had entailed a "significant undertaking".

The green roof of India Building in Water Street, Liverpool

She added: "Heritage buildings, like India Buildings, are challenging to renovate as they come with inherent problems such as asbestos which often don’t become fully apparent until the work starts.

"The project has already been delayed because of the significant amount of asbestos discovered throughout the building which had to be safely removed and disposed of.