Whitechapel has become the home of Tower Hamlets new town hall, which opened to the public this week.

The old Royal London Hospital Building, which is Grade II listed and over 250 years old, has taken on new life as the Whitechapel Civic Centre, with new residents’ services and council chambers. The old town hall in Mulberry Place, Poplar, will no longer serve any council function.

Notably the council owns the new town hall, rather than renting as they did at Mulberry Place.

The first public council meeting in the new hall took place on February 9, but now the entire ground floor has opened for public use.

New services include a residents’ hub including appointments for those who cannot access the internet, a café, and free Wi-Fi in public areas.

Existing residents’ hubs at Mulberry Place and Idea Store Whitechapel have closed for good with the opening of the new town hall.

Site developer Bouygues UK say on their website that refitting the building for council use has cost nearly £125m, with enough workspace for 2470 staff, though some have challenged this figure.

Andrew Wood, a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Tower Hamlets Council from 2017 to 2022 said the advertised costs do not include a number of additional expenses.

Wood told ELL: “Within the rent we paid for Mulberry we got maintenance for free as the landlord was responsible. We have to pay for that at the new town hall but those costs were not included in the comparison”.

According to Wood, also not included in the budget were the costs of audiovisual equipment and moving CCTV from the old town hall to Whitechapel.

He said the O&S Committee was not given any detailed explanations with regards to rising costs.

When the new town hall was proposed in 2015, the budget was set at £77m. The building itself was purchased at an initial cost of £9m.

The Grade II listed building was previously the site of the Royal London Hospital, which moved to a newer building in the same neighbourhood in 2013.

The site had remained unused until planning permission was granted in 2018.

The council will meet at the new town hall tonight discuss the budget for the next year. The budget is expected to include a freeze on council tax, in contrast to large council tax increases in other London boroughs.