Work starts on £100m global transport headquarters

The construction of a new global headquarters for Booking.com’s transport division has officially begun.

Manchester Goods Yard – the new-build within Allied London’s Enterprise City tech cluster, situated in its St John’s development site – is set for completion in 2021.

Booking.com employs 1,900 people in Manchester across four existing city centre sites and has created 250 new roles since the start of 2019 across its tech and contact centre teams.

It will have space for up to 3,000 people over the lifetime of its 12-year lease at the new headquarters.

Booking.com’s property consultants, OBI, have created a bespoke mobile app that will allow Booking.com colleagues to swipe for their favourite ideas for design features and furnishings at their new home, with the most popular ideas being integrated into the design.

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council, attended an official groundbreaking ceremony for the building yesterday (April 25) alongside the chief executive of Booking.com’s transport division, Ian Brown, the chief executive of Allied London, Michael Ingall, Michael Poole-Sutherland from Lendlease – the scheme’s contractors – and OBI co-founder Dominic Horridge.

Booking.com, which also operates the Rentalcars.com brand, will invest approximately £100m over the next decade in its new 222,000 sq ft campus where it aims to, once again, create one of the UK’s best workplaces.

Booking.com has already won awards for its offices in Fountain Street and Quay Street, which feature onsite restaurants, games rooms, themed meeting rooms and more.

Ian Brown said: “We are proud to have called Manchester home for the last 15 years. Manchester is one of Europe’s tech capitals and developments like Enterprise City are an important part of reinforcing that position and growing the local talent base.

“Our new building, combined with our new industry-leading benefits package, confirms our commitment to being the best place to work in tech.

“Rather than just building something we think all of our colleagues will like, we are asking them directly.

“Once everyone has fed in their ideas we will have the right blueprint for our dream workspace. It’s an exciting opportunity for us to raise the bar – again – on what it means to have a truly world-class, award-winning environment.”

Michael Ingall added: “This is another significant milestone for Enterprise City, following on from construction starts at Bonded Warehouse and ABC.

“We’re now seeing one of the world’s biggest tech companies create their new campus, at the heart of our Enterprise cluster. Booking.com’s £100m transport HQ will play a huge part in attracting and retaining talent in Manchester.”

Sir Richard Leese said: “The investment by Booking.com into Manchester is very welcome and I am thrilled they are creating so many new, significant jobs. Manchester is truly showing itself as a leading player in the world of technology.”

Dominic Horridge said: “OBI is delighted to be working so closely with Booking.com to deliver a fantastic, innovative major new workspace in the heart of Manchester.

“Our design team and project managers are working hard to create what we hope will be a new benchmark in quality and design of workspaces.”

Simon Gorski, executive general manager – UK regions, Lendlease, added: “After 18 months of close collaboration with Allied London on the pre-construction phase of the project we’re now looking forward to delivering what looks set to be a world-leading workspace of the future.

“Breaking ground on the new Manchester Goods Yard building marks an important milestone in the regeneration of the St John’s site.”