Significant building works are taking place at Mansfield Civic Centre to transform the ground floor into a shared digital hub for self-service and reception for Mansfield District Council and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) customers.

The new shared hub will provide improved facilities for customers who will be able to access a range of council and DWP services in one location.

In order to create the new hub, from Tuesday, 6th March for ten weeks, the reception area will be split in two to allow for the refurbishment.

During this time, customers who need to visit the council’s Housing desk and Revenues and Benefits counter will need to use the Chesterfield Road entrance to the Civic Centre. The normal reception service for enquiries and visitors will also be available from this entrance during the work, while a temporary reception will be in place in the Civic Quarter via the Rosemary Street/car park entrance.

The temporary reception can be used for all general enquiries, licensing, planning, environmental health, lost dog releases, Nottinghamshire County Council forms and applications, document check and drop off and all business customers.

The Homeless Prevention team and Homefinder service will be based at the Citizens’ Advice Bureau on Regent Street. All phone numbers will remain the same.

The Civic Quarter will remain unaffected for events and its café will be open on weekdays.

Public meetings will still go ahead and a temporary walkway will give direct access to the Council Chamber from the Rosemary Street/car park entrance.

The car park at the Civic Centre will be open as usual.

Temporary public toilets will be provided outside the Civic Centre.

On Monday, 12th March, all DWP services including the assessment centre and Job Centre Plus will open to the public at the Civic Centre. Any visitors coming to the DWP will have to use the Chesterfield Road entrance at the Civic Centre until the new reception opens in May.

Sarah Troman, director of communities at Mansfield District Council, said: “We will provide additional support for customers who need to access face to face services but I would encourage customers to go online for information, payments and reporting issues. Our contact centre will not be affected.

“We would like to thank our customers for their patience during the refurbishment.”

The new facilities for customers will provide access to council services, housing and DWP enquiries all within the same shared space. There will also be new self-service points, where customers will be able to apply, update or process a range of DWP and council grant and benefit applications. There will be a Job Centre, fitness for work assessment centre, finance and back office functions.