Exclusive: HSBC to close Sheffield office this year ahead of planned Retail Quarter move

HSBC is to close one of its Sheffield offices by the end of this year - as the bank confirmed it will be moving to a new building in the £480m Sheffield Retail Quarter in 2019.
The planned HSBC offices in the Sheffield Retail QuarterThe planned HSBC offices in the Sheffield Retail Quarter
The planned HSBC offices in the Sheffield Retail Quarter

Staff were informed this afternoon that the bank is to shut its Hoyle Street offices, moving workers to its existing Griffin House building.

The news comes one month after HSBC announced it was making almost 600 Sheffield workers redundant as it moves IT jobs to India, China and Poland.

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An HSBC spokesman confirmed the move out of Hoyle Street will be completed by the end of the year.

The company will remain at Griffin House until its new offices are ready in the Sheffield Retail Quarter by the middle of 2019.

The new Sheffield Retail Quarter offices are expected to be on the Charter Square site of the Grosvenor House Hotel, which is due for demolition.

HSBC has long been rumoured to be the ‘major blue chip company’ due to occupy the first phase of the Retail Quarter scheme, with Sheffield Council confirming last month it was in ‘advanced talks’ with the bank about the move.

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But the company has not commented on the reports until today’s announcement to staff. Workers were told that Sheffield ‘will always be a key location for HSBC’ despite the recent job cuts announcements.

HSBC is believed to be Sheffield’s biggest private sector employer and will still have 2,700 workers in the city after the latest redundancies.

It is intended that HSBC will occupy the first phase of the Sheffield Retail Quarter and will move in by 2019 to new office and retail space. Outline proposals for the £480m destination of shops, homes and offices, which council bosses hope will transform the city centre’s fortunes, are due to be made public this month as planning permission for the scheme is sought.

Sheffield Council deputy leader Leigh Bramall said the bank and the local authority are now working on the ‘final details of the agreement’.

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He said: “It is a massive vote of confidence in terms of the city as a location for HSBC. It obviously helps us to begin the first phase of the Retail Quarter and makes it more viable. But it also helps us start to create a financial district for the centre of the city.”

Sheffield Council is spending £60m in its attempt to bring the Retail Quarter scheme to fruition but say it will generate an extra £300m per year for the local economy.