2 April 2016 – by Louisa Clarence-Smith
HM Revenue & Customs has instructed JLL to oversee its hunt for 13 regional centres, as part of a 500,000 sq ft requirement over the next five years.
The HMRC instruction, which could earn JLL £3m-£5m, runs for three years with an option to extend for a further two years. The 13 regional centres will each cater for between 1,200 and 7,500 staff in a mixture of existing buildings, new builds and acquisitions.
HMRC’s existing 170 offices will close as the new regional centres open.
The hub locations have yet to be confirmed, but HMRC has said they will cover the following areas: North East (Newcastle); North West (Manchester and Liverpool); Yorkshire and the Humber (Leeds); East Midlands (Nottingham); West Midlands (Birmingham); Wales (Cardiff); Northern Ireland (Belfast); Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh); South West (Bristol); and London, South East and East of England (Stratford and Croydon).
All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app.
Bilfinger GVA had been instructed to do preparatory work on the HMRC hubs programme last year, dubbed Project Jupiter, but the strategic delivery partner instruction has been awarded to JLL after an OJEU process was launched in January.
JLL was appointed by the Government Property Unit in November last year as national property adviser for its wider hubs strategy to encourage office buildings to be shared by multiple public sector bodies.
An HMRC spokesman said: “We are taking the next step in creating a tax authority fit for the future delivering better, more modern services and making it harder for the dishonest minority to cheat the system.
“We will do this at a lower cost to the taxpayer by using the best of modern technology and basing our staff in modern and more cost-effective buildings.”
JLL declined to comment.
