The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has confirmed that it has chosen Peterborough for the location of its new head office and is currently seeking suitable premises.
CITB had already earmarked Peterborough as a likely new base after announcing that it was moving away from its long-established base in Bircham Newton, Norfolk, as part of its new strategy launched late last year.
The strategy, laid out in Vision 2020: The Future CITB, has seen CITB confirm nearly 800 job cuts as part of a three-year reforming business plan to modernise the organisation.
Chief executive Sarah Beale said she believed Peterborough was the right location for a new head office, which will house functions currently spread across 11 sites including Bircham Newton.
CITB aims to sign a lease later this year with the move completed by January 2020.
Peterborough has been chosen because it is the closest centrally located city to Bircham Newton and has a good supply of office facilities as well as good road and rail links.
Beale said: "This is a necessary step for CITB. British construction firms pay their levy and rightly expect high-quality skills as a result. The creation of a single head office will bring us closer to our customers and create the right environment to ensure that CITB delivers the ‘levy in, skills out’ focus that industry and government have demanded.
“As a GB-wide organisation, it is vital that we are better connected to our customers so that we can reach important partners – including construction firms – more easily providing a flexible workspace which can accommodate a highly mobile workforce. Our new head office will also be designed to suit the size and mission of the organisation that CITB will become.
“The Vision 2020, Future CITB programme is designed to secure the long-term future of CITB; which was by no means certain before the last consensus vote. However we are mindful of the impact these reforms has on colleagues and this decision will not be taken lightly.”
Peter Lauener, chair of CITB, said: “Sarah Beale and I are committed to doing everything we can to maximise the development of the CITB’s site in Bircham Newton and thereby leave a lasting legacy for the local community and the economy of North Norfolk.”
