Barclays launches hunt for 600,000 sq ft northern hub
Barclays Bank has launched a 600,000 sq ft requirement to consolidate its North of England offices into a mega-campus.
CBRE is advising the bank, which is focusing on out of town locations in Manchester including Airport City – the 160-acre regeneration project adjacent to Manchester Airport – a joint venture between Manchester Airports Group, Carillion, Beijing Construction Engineering Group and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
Barclays’ global estate comprised 43m sq ft across 5,000 properties in 2013, of which 27m sq ft was in the UK.
Barclays Bank has launched a 600,000 sq ft requirement to consolidate its North of England offices into a mega-campus.
CBRE is advising the bank, which is focusing on out of town locations in Manchester including Airport City – the 160-acre regeneration project adjacent to Manchester Airport – a joint venture between Manchester Airports Group, Carillion, Beijing Construction Engineering Group and the Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
Barclays’ global estate comprised 43m sq ft across 5,000 properties in 2013, of which 27m sq ft was in the UK.
Major offices in the North of England include the 64-acre IT campus at Radbroke Hall in Knutsford, Cheshire. The estate, where 3,700 employees work, is owned by the bank.
The bank’s city centre take-up includes 80,000 sq ft at Ares Management’s 4 Piccadilly Place in Manchester; the British Airways Pension Trustees’ 20 Chapel Street in Liverpool, where it occupies around 8,000 sq ft; and 5 St Anns Street in Quayside, Newcastle, where it occupies the entire 35,000 sq ft office.
CBRE’s mandate includes oversight of all of Barclays’ offices and retail properties, data centres and call centres in the UK and Europe.
The bank is undergoing a major restructure of its back-office operations to help it meet post-financial crisis rules forcing British banks to divide their retail businesses into legally separate units from their investment banking operations. This will see 10,000 global roles consolidated into a new company before the new rules come into effect in 2019.
The bank is also facing pressure to cut costs and improve profitability. Chairman John McFarlane said at the time of its full-year results in February that despite almost tripling its profits to £3.2bn, it still faced further fines from legal matters and would have to manage the fallout from Brexit.
Barclays declined to comment.
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