BT opens flagship regional office
Completing its five-year workplace upgrade and consolidation programme, Salford’s Four New Bailey will be a base for up to 2,000 employees as it replaces the comms giant’s former office in Manchester’s Deansgate.
Architect tp bennett designed the workspace, over six floors at the building. Features include a versatile ‘town hall’ space for 150 people at level nine, while level 10 accommodates dining and wellbeing.
The opening of Four New Bailey is the final step in BT Group’s UK-wide ‘Better Workplace’ transformation programme, which trimmed the company’s office spaces from around 300 to around 30 locations.
tp bennett designed the interiors. Credit: Paul Riddle
Contractor Bowmer + Kirkland started the 175,000 sq ft office in 2021 as the fourth office block at ECF’s New Bailey development. Designed by Make, the development was forward-funded by Warrington Council in a £112m deal.
Last December, it was revealed that BT has decided that with a hybrid working model now in place, it no longer needs three floors of the building, instructing JLL to sub-let 60,000 sq ft.
Four New Bailey, on the Salford side of the River Irwell, adds to BT’s other North West locations in Liverpool, Accrington and Warrington.
Other locations to see new grade A investment from BT include Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Dundee and the London HQ. Major refurbishments have also been carried out at other locations, including Belfast, Doncaster, Glasgow and Newcastle.
Marking the Better Workplace programme’s completion, BT published a report by Hatch highlighting the economic benefits of its spend with suppliers and by employees.
The firm directly employs more than 69,700 people and 15,500 contractors in the UK.
Allison Kirkby, group chief executive, said: “The opening of our new Manchester office is a significant milestone on the journey to transform BT and our office spaces around the UK.
“We’ve invested heavily to provide best-in-class office spaces for our people across the country, reflecting how critical we are to every region of the UK. The broader economic effect from our offices, our people and our spend with UK suppliers is worth £23bn to the nation’s economy and beyond our own people we support around 212,000 jobs in the wider UK economy.”
This marks the culmination of BT’s workplace improvement plan. Credit: Paul Riddle
