Office shut indefinitely for ‘maintenance’ work

SUPPOSEDLY “state of the art” UK Government office has been closed for well over a month due to chronic maintenance issues.

- CONOR GOGARTY

One of the windows that shattered and fell to the ground below last year

Ty Taf, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) building in Treforest industrial estate, Rhondda Cynon Taf, has been plagued by problems since its opening - including big sheets of glass falling multiple floors.

We understand the site - where some 1,600 civil servants are based - shut indefinitely on November 27 for reasons which have not been disclosed to staff, who are working from home. The DWP refused to tell WalesOnline why the office is closed except for a vague reference to “planned maintenance”.

When the 133,000sq ft building opened in 2021 it was lauded by the then-secretary of state for Wales, Simon Hart, as “state of the art” But last year the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) said: “The DWP office at Ty Taf has been a disaster since it first opened. Despite PCS raising several health and safety issues over the years, the DWP has failed to remedy the problems”