An international alarm firm hoping to create 1,000 jobs on Tyneside has taken a further step towards that goal with an agreement to move to new offices.
Verisure is relocating its Centre of Excellence from the Neon Building at the Quorum Business Park in Newcastle to the nearby Q12 block on the same development.
The firm, which set up in the North East last year, currently occupies 35,000 sq ft at the Neon Building and will transfer its 400-plus staff to Q12 during the first quarter of 2022.
Read more: go here for more North East business news
It will initially take two floors, followed by a third floor in either 2024 or 2025. When fully occupied, the 100,000 sq ft Q12 building will allow Verisure to meet the target of 1,000 staff that it forecast when it first announced it was setting up in the North East.
The Centre of Excellence provides customer service, technical support, field operations, training, IT, telesales, HR and finance functions for Verisure, with the company looking to hire between 100 and 150 more people in the next year.
Site director Kevin Croft said: “The business is going through a tremendous period of growth which is witnessed by the fact we have more than doubled the number of people we anticipated we would have in place less than two years since we arrived at Quorum Park.
“We are also recruiting for high quality staff across all areas of the Centre of Excellence and we have substantially increased salaries across several functions. That sends a very clear message that we are a dynamic, industry-leading company that rewards its staff exceptionally well and that we have a long-term commitment to the North East.
Most Read
“We are in a crucial phase of growth at the Centre of Excellence and despite signing a long-term lease at the Neon Building, our business forecasts tell us that we need substantially more space and so we have secured a deal for the Q12, which will provide us with three times the floor space and is ideal for the 1,000 plus staff we fully expect to recruit during the course of this decade.”
The move has been welcomed by North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, who said: “I first met with Verisure’s directors two years ago. We worked hard to persuade them the North of Tyne was the right place to establish their centre of excellence.
“This was also a two-way conversation. Loyal employers build loyal workforces. I asked the directors about their vision for growing their business here, and it was based on looking after their team, giving everyone the opportunity to progress, and of course, paying decent wages.”
Mark Rabinowitz, director of Shelborn Asset Management, which owns Quorum Park, said: “Our latest letting to Verisure is clearly fantastic news for everyone involved in bringing the firm to the North East and follows a great deal of hard work over the past eighteen months.
“We are very proud to have helped facilitate Verisure’s expansion and absolutely delighted to see every building at Quorum occupied for the first time.
"Over the past two years we have welcomed a host of new names and are confident that we can maintain this momentum into 2022.”