Byrne picked to build £150m Santander scheme

Technology hub to be completed in 2022Byrne Group has won the deal to build a £150m UK technology hub for Spanish banking giant Santander in Milton Keynes.The firm, whose parent is £2.2bn turnover South African builder Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon, beat a pitch from JRL-owned Midgard. Byrne’s fit-out arm Ellmer will also be working on the job.Byrne, which in its last set of accounts returned to the black for the year to June 2019 with a £5.3m pre-tax profit on turnover up nearly 50% to £203m, will build an 81,650 sq m building that will see the bank’s 6,000 employees, currently split across four sites in the Buckinghamshire town, move into in autumn 2022.The scheme, which is being developed by Osborne + Co, has been designed by LOM and received planning from the local council last July.The eight-storey scheme comprises four blocks connected by three atria. The basement will include an urban market open to both Santander staff and the public.Called Unity Place, the project will include retail, a community hall, auditorium and co-working space. A rooftop running track will also be built.The wider project team includes engineer WSP and Turner & Townsend as project and cost manager.Osborne + Co is also behind Santander’s new contact centre and operations hub in Bootle, near Liverpool, after being chosen as the bank’s development partner for the £75m project.