Caithness House chosen as name for new Wick Offices
10th December 2014
Photo Gallery

With staff due to move into the new council offices in Wick in March next year, one of the items on the Area Committee today was to agree a name for the building which will house 140 members of staff.
Local Councillors, keen to have a new name to encompass both the refurbished original listed building at Market Place and to reflect the new works to incorporate the adjoining building at Stafford Place put forward the suggestion of Caithness House which was unanimously agreed by the Committee.
The £8.5m project involved the contractor Morgan Sindell demolishing the old listed building at Market Place and restoring the adjoining, Stafford Place buildings, retaining the listed façade. The new accommodation will be the base for 140 Council staff currently based in a number of offices in Wick.
When construction work stated in January 2013 staff were moved to the nearby former and vacant DSS office on Girnigoe Street.
The Leader of Caithness and Sutherland Area Committee, Councillor Deirdre Mackay said: "I'm delighted that the new offices now have a new name. Caithness House will be the hub of the Council in Wick and I'm really looking forward to seeing staff move in next year. The presence of 140 staff and people visiting the Service Point can only be good for local businesses."
Caithness Civic Leader, Councillor Gail Ross added: "The project represents a very significant investment by the Council to Wick and will help with the regeneration of the Town Centre. Having all our staff based under one roof in Caithness House is going to be more convenient for the public and good for inter-service working, as well as helping to bolster the Town Centre."
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Wick Business Park has welcomed wind energy technology company ENERCON as the first occupant of one of four new units completed last year. ENERCON specialises in designing, producing, installing and servicing onshore wind turbines and has been operating in the Caithness area since 2013.
Additional empty homes officers are being recruited to bring more privately owned houses back into use. The new posts are being supported as part of a £2 million investment through the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership in 2025-26 which will see staff take a more proactive and targeted approach to tackling local housing issues.
The Highland Strategic Local Action Group (LAG) met in June 2025 and considered and agreed funding for 28 projects submitted to the Community-Led Local Development fund (CLLD), which makes up part of The Highland Council Community Regeneration Fund (CRF) programme. CRF is an umbrella term used to cover multiple external funding programmes administered by The Highland Council.
Highland Council has provided 12 ‘Talking Tub' resources for use in primary schools across the Highlands, in partnership with Union Technical who deliver community benefits as part of the Energy Efficient Scotland: Area Based Scheme programme. Chair of Highland Council's Education Committee, Councillor John Finlayson, said: "This is a fantastic initiative being rolled out across Highland primary schools which brings innovation and inspiration to early years children.
Visitors will find it easier to dispose of their litter at several popular spots across Highland after the rollout of additional bins. The rollout has been planned to support the tourism season as part of the Council's ongoing commitment to improve and support sustainable tourism in the area.
Members of the meeting of The Highland Council (26 June 2025) have considered and agreed the Accounts Commission's Best Value report, which was published in April 2025 and highlights organisational improvements across leadership, performance management and community engagement. In April’s report, the Accounts Commission recognised and welcomed significant progress within the organisation since the 2020 Best Value Assurance Report (BVAR) and commended the embedded culture of transformation.
A new generation of community facilities is being planned for the Highlands. At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June), elected members approved the work to date in progressing the Highland Investment Plan workstreams - masterplan for Thurso and agreed to nominate the current Thurso High School site as the preferred location for the new Thurso Community Point of Delivery (POD).
At a meeting of The Highland Council (Thursday 26 June 2025), Members received a progress report on the partnership approach and important successes since declaring a Highland Housing Challenge in November 2023. Since establishing the ambitious Highland Housing Challenge, important successes included: A call for sites delivered 250 sites, with a potential 25,000 housing units which will support delivery against the target of an additional 12,000 houses over the next 10 years.
The Highland Council will deliver a transformative programme of energy efficiency upgrades across Council housing supported by a £9.2 million Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding proposal secured by Union Technical. The funding proposal will deliver approximately 1,000 individual energy efficiency measures to Council owned properties across the Highlands.
As part of the Highland Council's celebration of Refugee Week - 16 to 22 June - we are delighted to announce that a sharing of photographs, taken by separated young people seeking asylum living within the Highlands, is to be shown at Eden Court Arts Centre, Inverness. Look to See, which ties in with the theme for this year’s Refugee Week - Community as a Superpower - emerges out of a collaboration between multiple agencies working alongside separated young people seeking asylum, embodying the importance of community and connection, when looking to support all young people in the Highlands.