Mayor Opens Housebuilders’ New Guildford Head Office

Published on: 23 Nov, 2021
Updated on: 26 Nov, 2021

It’s official. The mayor cuts the ribbon to open Barratt’s new home.

The new head office for housebuilder Barratt Southern Counties’ was officially opened last week (November 16) by Marsha Moseley, the Mayor of Guildford. The offices are located in the Guildway business park, Artington.

The office opening was attended by a number of representatives from Guildford Borough Council (Cllrs Nigel Manning (Con, Ash Vale), Ramsey Nagaty (GGG, Shalford), John Redpath (R4GV, Holy Trinity) and Angela Gunning (Lab, Stoke) alongside senior figures from Barratt.

According to a Barrat spokesperson: “The event marks the housebuilder’s continued investment in creating career opportunities in the town and demonstrates the importance of creating forward-thinking office space in a post-pandemic landscape, highlighting the value of collaborative working for Barratt Southern Counties employees, the majority of whom have now returned to the office after having worked from home for the past 18 months.”

The new headquarters have been designed by Oktra to accommodate hybrid working, with state-of-the-art facilities on offer including breakout rooms, communal areas, wellness rooms and private pods for video conferencing. During the visit, the Mayor and councillors toured the new facilities and met with a number of employees, including recent apprentice Jack Tanner and trainee assistant site manager Mark Wheeler, who is on Barratt’s Armed Forces Transition Programme.

The Mayor, commented: “I am pleased to officially open the new Barratt Southern Counties office today, which provides a modern way of working for employees in a post-pandemic world. It was a pleasure to see the new facilities and meet with representatives from Barratt, including their latest talent recruits.

“I was particularly impressed to hear the emphasis on career opportunities here within Guildford, from apprenticeships to graduate programmes and those transitioning from the Armed Forces.”

Julian Hodder, Managing Director at Barratt Southern Counties, comments: “After a long 18 months working from home, we are excited to officially unveil our brand new headquarters and welcome staff back to the office once again. Offices now need to offer more than a desk and a place to sit, which is why we have invested in brand new facilities that allow for adaptable individual and teamwork.

“We are also placing an even greater emphasis on employee wellbeing, having trained a number of Mental Health First Aiders across all departments, alongside offering access to a wealth of green space outdoors.”

Barratt Southern Counties is currently recruiting for a range of new roles within the division, including apprentices, graduates and former Service personnel.