Croydon Council is to rent out part of its headquarters to save money – and spend £275,000 on new furniture to make its headquarters “attractive” to tenants.

An unnamed “multinational company” is to pay £4.4m for a 10-year lease of Bernard Weatherill House’s 11th and 12th floors.

The Labour administration will also pay a quarter of a million pounds to kit out the floors with new furniture – less than three years after the group criticised ruling Tory councillors for splashing out £3 million to furnish the 13-storey tower.

The council said job losses had created space within its headquarters and that renting out parts of the £120 million building would ensure “property assets are optimised and used to generate income”.

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Council leader Tony Newman said: “It is absolutely about getting value for money for taxpayers. The council has lost hundreds of members of staff over the last few years so we have reset some of the floors, there will still be good working space for council employees but because we have got less employees than we had it is doable.”

The move will leave the building with 50 per cent more council staff than desks, with employees required to work flexibly.

The council replaced its old furniture with bespoke new fittings when it moved from Taberner House in 2013. At the time, Councillor Newman described the £3 million expenditure as “grotesque”.

Some of that furniture will now be replaced and either recycled or donated to voluntary groups.

Cllr Newman said: “The bit of money we spend on furniture will be got back many times over in what we are being paid to rent it out. We want to make it an attractive offer.

“We will recycle anything that is useful – if we end up with a few spare tables and chairs we will offer it to the voluntary sector – but I think most of it will get reused and recycled within the council.”

The proposals are subject to approval by the authority’s cabinet on Monday night, when councillors will also vote on £29m budget cuts.

Funding for libraries, Croydon’s meals on wheels service and some disability support packages are also set to be scaled back after reductions in funding from central government.