Jambon87

if you want to take a look at an example of the wrong time to open a new office, take a look at American’s headquarters that opened last year.

Makes Waterside look like a rundown cupboard 😁

VSLover

ha thats what i was thinking based on the pics of the new aa headquarters! looks more like a typical tech company than airline!

https://onemileatatime.com/american-...-headquarters/

skipness1E

Waterside was the physical sign that BA were about to lose their way. It was Bob Ayling's baby and opened just a year after BA rebranded in 1997. A shiney new corporate HQ is often a sign arrogance has taken over in a customer centric business and they really took their eye off their core UK focus and brand back then. Given it's going to be under runway 3 it's no great loss.

There's quite a mass of abandoned offices in TBA but they must be a time capsule and you have to wonder if they're remotely fit for purpose in 2021, asbestos not withstanding. It would certainly put BA back in their old home and focus minds somewhat if they did.

Do they still own the land where TBB stood? It's just a car park now, capital investment not withstanding, could be an option.

BTW if HAL are leaving the Compass Centre, where are they going?

Genius1

See Post 42 - office space within the range of terminal buildings, although I don’t know if specific areas have been identified yet.

PGberkshire

My Brother once told me, if a company is building a big new office they are not focusing on their business, but a hubris project. What you want is a company bursting at the seams in a cramped old office and growing too fast.

VSLover

your brother mustve been my old office mate, lol. thats what he said when our new NYC office opened up but that was ten years ago and we are going along strong.

but we are not reliant on planes.

PGberkshire

Planes, yes. specific airlines, no (well maybe)

Where did you work?

MADPhil

C. Northcote Parkinson said something like that in "The Law and Profits" (1960). He also had a good comparison between the amount of time a board of directors would spend on the staff bicycle shed versus a new head office. I would have to excavate the basement to find the book though.

13901

Given the cost BA incurred in cleaning up TBC's two floors of asbestos, the cost of refurbishing TBA would be astronomical. The walkways leading to the few "inhabited" offices (LH Minor Maintenance Unit crew rooms, or that's how they were called back then) are covered in protective panels with clear instructions not to drill or do anything else.

The land between Vanguard House and TBC is still BA-owned and could very well be turned into a building. It shouldn't be too big considering the much reduced footprint of BA's HQ today.

They could even knock down Cranebank and build something there once they get rid of the beaver-sized rats that live there (I assume the sale hasn't really gone anywhere for that lot).

PGberkshire

Im not surprised, my brother isn't original

Prospero

BA is not alone. I am aware of several large corporations that are rethinking not only their future property needs but more critically the whole concept of the workplace. COVID has changed everything and the future office environment will change for many of us. Home working, flex working, dynamic use of space are presently hot agenda items

Waterside was a triumph. It fulfilled its purpose successfully - bringing many hundreds of staff spread across scores of scattered departments under a single roof. It’s not a typical office complex as you’d expect to find in the City or the west end, it was designed cleverly for a specific location to accommodate over a thousand employees comfortably with excellent amenities all just a stone’s throw from the planet’s most active runway. BA’s workplace requirements are changing fast and significantly so it makes perfect sense to invest in a new home

PGberkshire

*Every* company is considering its real estate strategy. Covid has been the biggest disruptor / accelerator of proving distributed / home working.

Out of interest - what's so special about waterside?

BA needs to consolidate its operations with Iberia and the wider IAG. one big shared service org with different branding.

13901

Waterside already did that. In 2019 it housed: BA, IAG, American Airlines, Japan Airlines, Iberia, Avios & the BA pension team. Plus LEVEL and a couple minor IAG Digital offshoots.

BOH

What happened to the BA building on the A4 between Waterside and the tunnels to the Central terminal area? The building I mean was if you were to drive from Waterside along the A4 it was on the right about half-way along and parallel to the northern runway....lots of blue panels IIRC. Wasn't that a huge BA office facility pre-Waterside?

As an aside, I recall at one point when BA had this building they had to remove the BA signs from the front area of this building because too many pax mistook it for a terminal and would arrive there with suitcases etc

Swanhunter

Compass Centre? IIRC that was crew reporting and other functions. I think that became HAL after T5 opened and BA moved operations there.

Currently it’s a vaccination centre!