The government has agreed to lease 187,205 sq ft at the new Glasgow development, 1 Atlantic Square, Argyle Street, which will accommodate 2,700 civil servants from 2021.

Leasing the ten storey new building will make HMRC one of the largest employers in the city.

The development is easy-to-reach with excellent transport links, in addition to providing HMRC with the digital infrastructure required by a modern tax authority.

BAM Properties, part of BAM Construct UK, and Glasgow-based Taylor Clark Properties will deliver the Atlantic Square development in a joint venture.

Atlantic Square, which will sit in the heart of Glasgow's International Financial Services District (IFSD), will comprise three separate buildings including the retained façade of an A-listed warehouse building. HMRC will occupy building one of the new development.

Jon Thompson, HMRC chief executive and first permanent secretary, said: ‘We are delighted to have agreed terms for Atlantic Square and to have made a commitment to our Regional Centre in Glasgow. This is the beginning of a process that will see our staff come together in state-of-the-art facilities, and make HMRC an important contributor to the economy and to communities in and around Glasgow.’

Leader of Glasgow city council, Councillor Susan Aitken, said: ‘This is a significant and long-term investment in Glasgow that reinforces the city’s status as a world-class business location and a major hub for jobs in the financial services sector.’

The Glasgow hub forms part of HMRC’s office restructure project where thousands of HMRC staff will relocate to a small number of locations from the current 137 local offices and centres across the country. Up to 6,000 redundancies are expected due to the geographic relocations.

Moving to regional centres will save more than £300m up to 2025, with annual cost savings of around £90m from 2026, while improving customer service and modernising how HMRC work.

Report by Amy Austin