Barclays Touts State-Of-The-Art Campus In Glasgow

Barclays has opened what it is calling a state-of-the-art campus in Glasgow, as it continues to grow its workforce in the Scottish city.

The campus gives Barclays “a competitive advantage by attracting the best talent and driving innovation and collaboration,” the bank said in its statement.

The bank has locations in other parts of the UK as well. In May 2017 Barclays opened the doors to ‘Rise’ a fintech co-working space in London’s Shoreditch that the company claimed at the time was Europe’s largest. Rise was designed to be a hub for both the fintech and venture capital communities.

Job expansion

But this week the news was about Barclays opening its new campus in Tradeston, Glasgow. This location will house technology, operations, and functions teams for the bank.

The bank said the new campus is the latest step in Barclays’ global location strategy which is focused on bringing teams closer together to drive innovation and collaboration.

“The campus will give the bank a competitive advantage by attracting the best talent to drive the business forward,” the bank claimed.

It pointed out that it has grown its workforce in Glasgow by over 90 percent in the last four years and is on track to have around 5,000 employees on campus by 2023.

Barclays said it is working with universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh, in order to develop a robust pipeline of graduate and apprenticeship opportunities.

Tradeston campus

The 500,000 sq. ft. campus itself is a former brownfield area (i.e. formerly an industrial location), and it includes a new city centre park, as well as indoor and outdoor spaces for community events.

Barclays said that a curated space called “The Street” has been developed for social enterprises and local entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products to the public.

Amenities on campus will include wellbeing facilities, community exhibition spaces, along with a street food market offering fresh and healthy food options.

The campus itself is made up five buildings, including two historic buildings, Clyde Place House and the BECO Building which have been restored for public use.

Barclays says the news campus is designed with “collaboration and the future of work in mind, the workspace has complex lighting systems, smart acoustics, creative spaces and technology to support hybrid working.”

The campus will be home to the latest Barclays Eagle Lab hosting members of the Glasgow technology start-up community. The lab will focus on supporting and developing skills in new and emerging technologies, innovation and entrepreneurship.

“This campus will give us a competitive advantage through its technology and capabilities, and help us attract the best talent to drive our business forward,” said Jes Staley, chief executive at Barclays.

“We wanted to create something transformative that would have a lasting impact on Glasgow, its people and the local economy,” said Staley. “I am proud of the opportunities we have created – not just through jobs, but also through our supply chain and community initiatives. The UK is a world leader in financial services and Glasgow plays an important part. With this investment we are increasing the strategic importance of the city to our future.”

“I’m delighted that my first visit as a Scotland Office Minister was to see the opening of Barclays’ fantastic new campus,” added UK Government Minister for Scotland Malcolm Offord. “With decades of experience in the business and financial sectors, I know what an attractive option Scotland represents for global investment and this new flagship hub underlines that.”