South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | September | 30
From the archive, first published Friday 30th Sep 2005.
A MAJOR investment programme has just been completed at the Gazette, marking another milestone in the 127-year history of the newspaper.
The project has been the refurbishment of the Gazette head office building in Dursley, where all three editions of the Gazette - those for Gloucestershire, Thornbury and Yate & Chipping Sodbury - are put together.
The building, Reliance House in Long Street, was originally the headquarters of the Bailey Newspaper Group before it was sold just over five years ago to the present owners, Newsquest.
The original Long Street site was a former carpet factory, J B Champion and Sons, and 21 buildings were demolished to make way for the Bailey print works in 1966.
The foundation stone for the new office block was laid by Princess Anne in October 1978 and after almost 30 years the interior of the building was in need of considerable modernisation.
This work began in January last year and finished last month. The bulk of the work was carried out by Berkeley building contractors J C Aldridge and Sons Ltd, another long-established local company, and involved the conversion of a host of small offices to larger, brighter open-plan work spaces.
A modern kitchen was also constructed and new lighting and wiring installed.
"We had some money available from the sale of land formerly occupied by the printing press and we decided a good use would be to put that into modernising the building," said publisher Trevor Sallis.
"This not only demonstrated the company's commitment to its staff and to the local economy but also to southern Gloucestershire as a whole. "With a bit of luck we won't have to do much to the building again for another 30 years," Mr Sallis added.
The Dursley building is home to all the Gazette advertising staff, the newspaper sales and promotions department, the sports department and the news team for the Gloucestershire edition. The editor and news editor are also based in Dursley.
* Anyone who has a news story for the Gazette or who would like to place an advertisement is welcome in person at Reliance House.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008