BT invests in landmark new Dundee office development

BT has announced plans to develop a brand new, multi-million pound contact centre in Dundee which will become the new home to around 1,000 employees. The new office will be at West Marketgait in the heart of the city centre, close to the waterfront and part of a £1bn regeneration area.

When the building is complete, expected in late 2023, the state-of-the art contact centre will be one of around 30 of BT’s new future-fit offices in the UK, developed as part of its ‘Better Workplace Programme’ – the largest workplace improvement and consolidation scheme of its type ever undertaken in the UK.

The investment will help transform the way BT works, create efficiencies and enable it to better serve its customers. BT currently has an office at Ward Road in Dundee, where around 1,000 colleagues are based today, first opening in 1976. The new building will include what the designers have described as a ‘street landscape,’ with areas for colleagues to socialise while enjoying great views over Dundee and the River Tay.

Teams based in Dundee include those providing customer service support to BT’s full fibre customers and small businesses. Since 2020, BT handles 100 per cent of its consumer customer service calls at contact centres in the UK and Ireland. BT has recruited hundreds of people in Dundee in the past four years.

John Alexander, Leader of Dundee City Council, said: “Today’s announcement by BT is a huge vote of confidence in the city and in our plans for the future.

“It is clear that BT shares our vision for a Dundee that has a strong and sustainable economy providing jobs, retaining more graduates and making the city a magnet for new talent, while at the same time offering real choice and opportunity in a place that has tackled the root causes of social and economic exclusion.

“The company will be an integral part of that journey with us and I am delighted that BT sees Dundee as a good place to do business and recruit its present and future workforce.”

Jane Wood, BT Group Scotland director, said: “This is exciting news for my colleagues in Dundee and reflects BT’s continued investment in Scotland. As one of the largest employers in Tayside, we know that this investment will be welcomed by many people, not least my colleagues who will be based at this brilliantly designed new office.

“We’re pleased that Dundee, an iconic Scottish city, will remain home to nearly 1,000 frontline workers who help customers right across the UK, every day. My colleagues have done an amazing job ensuring that our customers have stayed connected during the Covid -19 pandemic, with some choosing to remain working on site, while other colleagues have chosen to work from home.

“We look forward to welcoming staff into our new building when it’s complete.”

Michael Smart at Crucible Developments, said: “We are delighted to have secured BT as an occupier. The site is undoubtedly one of the best in Dundee and we are extremely proud of the building our team have created. We hope to commence construction as soon as possible and, once completed, the development will bring a prominent brownfield site back into use and further increase the vibrancy of Dundee city centre.”

Teams based at the Dundee office will benefit from Openreach’s full fibre broadband network, as well as EE’s 5G mobile network which the company switched on in Dundee last month.

BT Group plays an important role in the Scottish economy and is responsible for generating £1 in every £115 produced in the country, according to an independent report. It also generated £1.2 billion to the economy of Scotland in “Gross Value Added” GVA, during the 2019/20 financial year.* BT Group supports more than 12,400 jobs across the nation.

Background:

Under the five-year ‘Better Workplace Programme’, first announced in 2018, BT will consolidate its UK footprint of more than 300 locations to around 30. The company has already announced several other locations including Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Ipswich and Manchester, with more to follow. It will also move from its current HQ in London to a new building in Aldgate later this year.

Dundee is a dynamic, modern city, leading one of the largest regeneration projects in the UK. It is one of the principal tech centres in the country, which as well as being selected by industry group Tech Nation as one of the three cities most likely to become a UK tech hub this year, was also named alongside major world cities such as Toronto, São Paulo and Atlanta by multinational tech company Cognizant as one of the world’s top “places of the future”, in a report examining how new technologies will create jobs.

Working with Scottish Enterprise and property company Camlin, part-owned by Dundee property entrepreneur Bruce Linton, Crucible Developments have assembled the site and designed Dundee’s first ever ‘Platinum Wired Scored’ building. This means the building will be the most resilient building in Dundee from an IT and connectivity perspective. The building will also have sustainable credentials, such as a BREEAM Excellent rating, ensuring its impact on the environment will be minimal. The Greenmarket development comprise two buildings providing 76,500sq.ft (7,108sq.m) of offices, prelet to BT; 6,500sq.ft(602sq.m) of café/retail amenities and 16 flats.

Dundee Waterfront is an award-winning £1 billion regeneration project that is transforming 240 acres of land along 8km of the River Tay. Split into five distinct zones, the project has secured more than £750m of committed investment including a £40m investment by Dundee Port to secure offshore wind and decommissioning work. Most infrastructure works have been completed and the build phase is well underway, with a growing community of businesses and residents moving into the Waterfront area. Major projects already completed include the construction of a new railway station, V&A Dundee and Agnes Husband House, the new HQ for Social Security Scotland.

Dundee is home to two universities, is the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design and world-class computer games developers, life sciences research and the emerging sectors of cyber security and low carbon industries are driving its economic growth. Dundee is also at the heart of the £700m Tay Cities Deal which will boost economic prosperity in the city and surrounding areas.

*Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the value of all goods and services produced in an economy. GVA combines wages and operating profits from companies and other organisations. Growing GVA can reflect improvements in workforce skills, productivity, R&D and innovation. The figures for BT show the value added directly through BT’s services and additional value generated through BT’s suppliers across the nations and regions.

The full BT Economic Impact Report is available at: www.bt.com/reports