Energy giant BP (LON: BP) has done a U-turn over plans to relocate its North Sea headquarters in Aberdeen.
It is no longer looking at a move from its current base to a smaller site in Dyce.
A spokesman for the company said: “BP can confirm it has agreed to remain in its current North Sea headquarters (NSHQ) and will not be moving to Aberdeen International Business Park (AIBP).
“Staying in NSHQ will provide us with flexibility and space as we work to become an integrated energy company.”
What was the relocation plan?
It is nearly three years since the company announced it was moving out of its 210,000sq ft office complex on Wellheads Avenue. The plan back then was to move into more modest offices, about half the size at 100,000sq ft, at AIBP by the end of 2021.
It came hot-on-the-heels of the firm announcing 10,000 job cuts – around 15% of its global workforce – as a result of the Covid pandemic and an acceleration of the company’s energy transition plans.
Savills and Knight Frank were appointed joint marketing agents
Commercial property giants Savills and Knight Frank were appointed joint agents for the existing HQ.
And LaSalle Investment Management, which owns the huge office complex, revealed it was in talks with a number of potential new tenants.
The Grade A building – comprising seven wings and a huge central atrium – was to benefit from a multimillion-pound refurbishment, aimed at making it an “exemplar for Aberdeen’s sustainable energy future”.
At the time, Dan Smith, director for Savills in Aberdeen, said: “The aim is to create a building which will embody the future of office space in a post-Covid, net-zero world.”
Knight Frank associate Matthew Park hailed the agents’ appointment as “one of the largest and most exciting in Aberdeen”.
But earlier this year BP revealed its relocation had been delayed and it had extended the lease on its current North Sea HQ. It made no comment on the reasons behind the multi-year delay, or when the move may take place, citing “commercial discussions.”
BP employs roughly 15,000 people UK-wide, with Aberdeen and London its largest offices. Its North Sea HQ is home base for about 1,000 workers.
Aberdeen is earmarked for an offshore wind centre of excellence in Aberdeen as part of the company’s £10 billion ScotWind plans.
Nearly 50 years of BP’s office footprint in Aberdeen
BP built its first offices in Dyce in 1974 at Farburn Industrial Estate, which it extended over the course of the 1970s and 80s.
It moved into Wellheads Avenue on a 15-year lease in 2008, with the promininent new building becoming a base for about 1,200 employees and contractors.
The building had its official opening in March 2018. BP had unveiled its plans for the building, on the former site of a go-karting centre and curling club, three years earlier.
North Sea rival Shell relocated its Aberdeen base to the Silver Fin building on Union Street earlier this year.
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