The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) was to be demolished and replaced by a £40m state-of-the-art building on its Admiralty Way site in Taunton back in 2008.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD), which had already ruled out relocating the sea chart maker to Exeter, announced that it would stay put and not move across the town to Firepool.
All but one building was set to be bulldozed, the new offices would go up on the existing car park and the land at the front of the 32-acre site was set to be sold for housing.
Work was expected to start by the end of 2009, when buildings dating back 70 years and temporarily accommodation were set to be demolished, along with a children’s nursery.
Then-defence minister Derek Twigg said at the time: “The new building is a substantial investment and will greatly improve working conditions for UKHO staff.
“The new office will provide more suitable, efficient and flexible office facilities befitting a world-class organisation.”
Then-UKHO chief executive Mike Robinson said: “The assessment concluded that redeveloping on the current site offers taxpayers better value for money.
“In addition, the vast majority of staff wanted to stay where we are.”
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The four-storey block would accommodate all UKHO operations apart from print, storage and distribution, which were to relocate within 15 miles.
The building, which included meeting rooms, a 200-seat lecture theatre, training suite, café, restaurant and gym in the plans, would make use of natural daylight and ventilation with the emphasis on sustainability, reduced running costs and a low carbon footprint.
The only building due to survive was the archives section – opened by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, then known as Prince Andrew, in 2003.
This decision ended two years of uncertainty for staff after the MoD announced it was reviewing its services’ operations.
That kick-started the County Gazette’s ‘Save Our Hydro’ campaign, which saw Taunton’s MP at the time, Jeremy Browne, hand the government a petition signed by hundreds of readers calling for the UKHO to stay in the county town.
However, up to 300 of the 1,017 jobs could have been lost by 2013 as the UKHO began to embrace the digital age.
The government announced in December 2007 that it hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies.
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