Banking giant Santander has appointed Colliers to seek occupiers for the 65,812-square-foot third floor of Unity Place MK, its massive purpose-built headquarters in Milton Keynes.
Colliers describes the space as best-in -class CAT A lettable space that is capable of subdividing into smaller suites.
CoStar News revealed in 2021 that Santander had appointed thee broker to oversee its property consolidation programme, following the retail and commercial bank's announcement that it was to reduce the number of branches and offices across its UK portfolio.
At the time Santander said it would close 111 branches across the UK — a fifth of its network — in response to the shift to digital banking, accelerated by the pandemic.
It also announced a shake-up of its office sites that would see four locations closed and its UK headquarters moved from London to Milton Keynes. About 5,000 staff were affected by the offices announcement.
Santander consolidated its office sites into six main locations across the UK and introduced more flexible working arrangements. Milton Keynes, where the bank was investing £150 million in a new 400,000-square-foot campus, became its UK headquarters, alongside bases in Belfast, Bradford, Glasgow, London and Sheffield. It signed a 999-year lease with Milton Keynes council and its tenant, the Milton Keynes Parks Trust, to unlock the development, which had been carried out by Osborne+Co.
It closed its Bootle, Newcastle, London Portman House and Manchester Deansgate offices and reduced the amount of office space at its headquarters at London’s Triton Square, near Regent’s Park, as well as at its London Ludgate Hill, Leicester Carlton Park and Teesside sites.
Now it is scaling back the 398,000 square of offices it occupies in Milton Keynes. Earlier this year it leased the 65,000-square-foot second floor to flexible offices operator x+why for a digital banking hub that includes offices catering for teams, as well as open-topped desk pods for start-ups, entrepreneurs and agile workers, and break-out spaces. The building users can access the co-working space. Colliers has previously worked with x+why, where it offers co-working space in Birmingham’s landmark building, 103 Colmore Row.
The rest of the Milton Keynes building’s facilities include an "urban food market" and shops on the ground floor, a restaurant, brewery, community hall and a 300-capacity auditorium.
Spain's Santander became a household name and gained a major foothold in the UK's high street banking market when it bought the Abbey National bank in 2004.
Santander joins a number of leading corporates and in particular banks reducing office space in the UK to enable more hybrid working and reduce carbon footprints.
Earlier this week it emerged that HSBC is to leave its more than 1-million-square-foot Canary Wharf headquarters after more than two decades, moving to closer to 500,000 square feet at the redeveloped former British Telecom head office near St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London.
Olivia Hughes and Mike Hawkins of Colliers are advising. Colliers said in a statement: "‘Unity Place is a landmark development by Santander in a prime central business district. It offers ample community and lifestyle benefits as well as a thriving community that will provide the perfect atmosphere for working and creating, acting as a catalyst for increased productivity and innovation. Businesses seeking such exciting workspaces should please get int touch, where we would be more than welcome to show you everything Unity Place has to offer.’