BT to recruit 1,000 people at new Birmingham site

The company said the site included the latest technology including smart meeting rooms

BT will create about 1,000 jobs at its new Birmingham office, the company says.

The 17-storey development, the firm's Midlands regional hub, will contain about 2,200 workers - those from other sites and new hires - within weeks.

The 1,000 jobs at Three Snowhill will be created over months and years, with about 225 roles currently on offer.

BT is to reduce the number of its locations from more than 300 to about 30 over the next three years.

The company said it "still firmly believes in the future of the office", despite the Covid-19 pandemic seeing many staff shift to home working over the past 18 months.

BT was "adopting a hybrid, flexible approach called 'Smart Working' where teams will choose how colleagues spend time between home and their office", it stated.

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The new office off Colmore Row, near Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, will eventually accommodate about 3,500 staff from across BT Group, including digital network business Openreach.

Three Snowhill is the first of BT's regional hubs to open

BT Group chief executive Philip Jansen said it was its first major regional hub site to open outside London and a number of senior leaders were now based in the city.

He added while its head office remained in the capital, it was "committed to creating more opportunities and basing key operations" in other areas of the UK.

The Birmingham building has welcomed the first staff through the doors and BT says there will be "a phased return to the office over the next few weeks".

The company stated it would "ensure it complies with" latest guidelines from Public Health England "to ensure people are kept safe".