(Alliance News) - BT Group PLC said Thursday it is looking to add about 1,000 new jobs as it opens it new regional Birmingham office.
The new jobs will be added to the already 225 roles at the new "flagship" office at Three Snowhill in the city centre.
The new office will eventually host about 3,500 staff from across BT, including its arms-length broadband network operator Openreach.
Chief Executive Philip Jansen said: "This is our first major regional hub site to open outside London and is a marker of how BT is transforming to meet the needs of our colleagues and our customers.
"It's also a statement that we're serious about the 'levelling up' agenda. While our head office remains in London, we are committed to creating more opportunities and basing key operations in other areas of the UK too. A number of our senior leaders are now based here in Birmingham, as well as colleagues from across the business in a wide variety of roles, including exciting new technology research and digital product development functions."
The office is one of several new hubs that BT is planning to open in the future, including others in Manchester and Bristol, together with a new London headquarters, which will cut the firm's footprint from 300 locations to 30.
Under the company's Better Workplace Programme, BT is hoping moves to new office buildings and the refurbishment of existing commercial space will increase productivity.
Elaine Bergin, BT director for colleague experience, who is based at Three Snowhill, said that shared workplaces were "central to BT's future", despite the shift to work-from-home as companies adapted to the Covid pandemic.
She said: "We recognise colleagues need the opportunity to work flexibly, and we can enable that through hybrid working.
"However, particularly for younger individuals and those joining BT for the first time, the opportunity to learn those soft skills and form positive relationships by working together in the office is invaluable."
BT employs about 6,000 people directly and a further 600 contractors in the West Midlands.
Shares in BT were 0.1% higher in London on Thursday at 155.00 pence each.
By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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