Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs unveils new Birmingham office

Goldman Sachs unveils new Birmingham office: Wall Street giant set to move into shared Wework location

Goldman Sachs is set to move into a shared Wework office in Birmingham to establish a presence in the city.

The Wall Street titan, which employs 6,500 staff in the UK, expects staff to start moving into the floor it has rented at 55 Colmore Row from September.

The move is a major boost for the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda as the finance industry is predominantly based in London. 

Goldman Sachs, which employs 6,500 staff in the UK, said it expects staff to start moving into the floor it has rented at Birmingham’s 55 Colmore Row (pictured) from September

The office will initially hold 150 employees – mainly local hires – and Goldman has an option to add more capacity if needed.

It will mostly be staffed by the bank’s tech engineers, and Goldman has said it could employ ‘several hundred’ workers in Birmingham in coming years.

Eventually, the investment giant plans to establish its own permanent office in the city.

It comes as part of a shift of the financial services industry out of London, as the Government puts an increased focus on regions of the UK. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced this year that a new ‘Treasury North’ campus would be set up in the Tees Valley town of Darlington, creating 750 top jobs.

And a National Infrastructure Bank will take root in Leeds, with initial capital of up to £12billion to invest in projects to fire up the green revolution.

Gurjit Jagpal, managing director at Goldman Sachs and head of the Birmingham office, said the site would be a ‘springboard for our ambitions in the city’.

Neil Rami, chief executive of the West Midlands Growth Company, which promotes investment in the region, added: ‘Birmingham is ripe for future growth in technology, perfectly complementing the bank’s ambitions to recruit the best talent.

‘As the city gears up to host the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games next year, Goldman Sachs’ arrival will coincide with the region’s escalated status as an internationally significant cultural destination.’

While major UK institutions including HSBC and Lloyds Bank have been cutting back their office space, Goldman Sachs’ US chief executive, David Solomon, is very keen to get his staff back to their desks following the pandemic.

Earlier this year he called working from home an ‘aberration’, and in a memo to staff this week reminded them that its main London office was still open for those who wanted to come in.