Goldman Sachs takes a piece of Paradise as permanent Birmingham HQ

Goldman Sachs has taken 110,000 sq ft at One Centenary Way to be its permanent Birmingham office. The five-floor space forms part of MEPC’s £1.2bn Paradise Birmingham development and includes a roof terrace overlooking Centenary Square. The office, due for completion early next year, will have room for several hundred staff, with options to accommodate more than 1,000 if required. Goldman Sachs opened its first Birmingham office last September in WeWork’s 55 Colmore Row. It has since filled nearly 250 new positions in the city, and expects to hire several hundred more employees in the years ahead, predominantly from the region. Gurjit Jagpal, managing director and head of the Birmingham office at Goldman Sachs, said: “The quality, depth and breadth of Birmingham’s talent pool has exceeded expectations in our first year in the city. This new office space will be perfectly suited to our collaboration, flexibility and growth requirements in the years ahead. We are excited to cement and grow our position as an important employer and member of the business community in the city and the region.” Rob Groves, regional development director at MEPC, said: “This is a major deal for Paradise, for the city and for the region, bringing a large number of highly skilled jobs into the city centre with one of the world’s leading investment banks. Goldman Sachs’ choice of One Centenary Way reinforces the status of this building as the city’s most prestigious and sustainable business address.” The 280,000 sq ft One Centenary Way, designed by Glenn Howells Architects, forms the first part of phase two of the Paradise development. It houses office space across most of its 13 floors, with leisure, bar and restaurant uses on the ground floor. The basement will feature Birmingham’s first dedicated cycle hub with space for 330 bikes, showers and maintenance facilities, all available to the public as well as Paradise occupiers. A large gym and wellness centre will also be located on the lower ground floor, overlooking the new Western Terrace public realm being created as part of the next phase of development. One Centenary Way and the rest of the Paradise redevelopment is being brought forward through Paradise Circus Limited Partnership, a private-public joint venture with Birmingham City Council. The private sector funding is being managed by Federated Hermes, MEPC’s parent, which has partnered with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on the first phase of the development and for One Centenary Way. To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo from MEPC