Basel Labs

Barclays Plc Manchester intends to combine staff from many of its business locations and bring them all together in a new office. For this, it has made one of its biggest investments in Manchester by leasing a 36,000 sq ft property at 3 Hardman Street.

The office relocation will be shifting 300 people from its commercial banking operations in Manchester. Around 270 people in sales and operations departments, who are currently located in Mosley Street, Salford Quays and Marsden Street will shift to this new office, thus merging the two commercial banking teams.

Michael Hartig, who is currently the commercial director of the company as well as the head of Barclays Commercial Bank in Manchester, is slated to head the new office as soon as it becomes operational, which is supposed to happen by the end of this year.

Barclaycard, the credit arm of Barclays, had intended to move to the 3 Hardman Street office at the end of 2005 itself but the move was put off then.

Currently the building is about to undergo the process of a complete office fit-out involving the mechanical and electrical design of the office, renovation and architecture; all of which the interior contractors are expected to start by August and will be over before the year ends.