The Chronicle

Building society to relocate HQ from city centre

- By GRAEME WHITFIELD Business editor graeme.whitfield@ncjmedia.co.uk @Graemewhit­field

REDUCED NEED FOR OFFICE SPACE REASON FOR MOVE AWAY

NEWCASTLE Building Society is planning to leave its headquarte­rs in Newcastle city centre after the coronaviru­s pandemic reduced its need for office space.

The society has offices at Portland House, on New Bridge Street, as well as space at Cobalt Park, in North Tyneside.

But with many of its staff working from home, the society has reviewed its workplace requiremen­ts and decided to move entirely to the Cobalt site, which it acquired three years ago.

Services from the branch at Portland House will move to the building society’s nearby branch on Northumber­land Street, but the loss of staff from the offices will be another blow to the city centre at a time of other closures and major disruption to the retail and hospitalit­y sectors.

Staff from Portland House will all move to other locations within the building society’s network.

Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, said, “Our Portland House office no longer meets our strategic needs.

“The extensive unused space that we already have available in our Cobalt Park building gives us an opportunit­y to create a more aspiration­al working environmen­t and review what an additional head office space might ultimately offer.”

He added: “While we continue to invest in our branch network, the unique location of the Portland House branch, which is part of our head office building, means that on this occasion we will need to transfer services and customers to another branch. “Our Northumber­land Street branch in Newcastle City Centre is nearby and I know many customers already use both branches and all will be welcomed and well-served by our colleagues there.

“Our commitment to branches and to the High Street remains as strong as ever, as evidenced by our multi-million pound branch upgrade programme and expanding regional presence. We’re also working on an exciting new community partnershi­p branch in Tynemouth and we expect to announce progress on this in the coming weeks.”

Portland House, which sits opposite Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery, includes a 19th-century maternity hospital designed by famed architect John Dobson. The building was later the local headquarte­rs of the BBC and was used during the filming of the Ken Loach film I, Daniel Blake.

The building society said that the move to Cobalt is expected to be completed by January, with services from the branch within the building moved to the Northumber­land Street sit by February 5.

Our commitment to branches and to the High Street remains as strong as ever

Andrew Haigh

 ??  ?? Newcastle Building Society is planning to leave its HQ in New Bridge Street West in Newcastle City Centre
Newcastle Building Society is planning to leave its HQ in New Bridge Street West in Newcastle City Centre

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