Following Virgin Money’s launch of its purpose-driven ‘A Life More Virgin’ employment package, the bank has confirmed changes to its property portfolio to support its flexible working approach. The changes follow Virgin Money’s announcement on 30 September 2021 that it will have lower office space requirements as office hubs are re-purposed to fit new ways of working.
Under ‘A Life More Virgin’, the majority of colleagues will be able to work remotely for significant periods of time, travelling to offices primarily for collaboration purposes. Virgin Money will deliver modern, collaborative hubs for colleagues in its key locations under its new working arrangements.
As a result, the following changes will be made to office space:
Glasgow
- Virgin Money’s long-term strategy remains to move into the new, purpose-built offices at 177 Bothwell Street, which will be Glasgow’s largest, most environmentally friendly building once it is completed. The bank aims to have colleagues working in the new office towards the end of 2023.
- From December 2021, use of Guildhall, Queen Street will reduce which, along with offices at St Vincent Place and West George Street, will provide collaboration space for colleagues ahead of the move to Bothwell Street.
- Granite House, which previously accommodated the PPI remediation programme, was closed at the start of the pandemic and will not reopen due to the ending of that programme.
Gosforth
- Virgin Money remains committed to its presence in the north east of England. The site at Jubilee House, Gosforth was already larger than required pre-pandemic, and six buildings will now be closed.
- By refocusing costs, two of the remaining buildings will be refitted to enable greater collaboration and a better choice of how and where colleagues can work, with an additional building retained for contingency purposes. The work to deliver this will complete during 2022.
Leeds Briggate
- Virgin Money will upgrade its office space on Leeds Briggate, its largest site in Yorkshire.
- Additional desks for colleagues will also be introduced across a number of stores in the surrounding area.
Fraser Ingram, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Virgin Money, said: “With ‘A Life More Virgin’, our colleagues have much more flexibility to choose how and where they work. To support this, we will ensure we offer modern, vibrant and collaborative hubs in our key locations, striking the right balance between creating spaces to support the needs of our colleagues, cost efficiency and our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint.”
Virgin Money will be working with colleagues to ensure the final design of the new physical footprint meets everyone’s needs.