Challenger bank is on the move and on the up

HALLENGER bank Atom is weeks away from moving from Durham into its new head office in Newcastle city centre, its CEO has revealed.

- COREENA FORD Business writer [e-mail]

The digital only bank, which marked 10 years in business last year, announced earlier this year how it had signed up to relocate its headquarters to the Pattern Shop, in the former home of The Robert Stephenson and Co works, where the world famous train Rocket was built in the 1880s. At the time, the company said its office investment marked a “bold statement about how we see the future of work”.

Now the bank has announced in latest accounts how its relocation plans are now “well advanced” in “an important investment in the future of the franchise and one that will help us to drive delivery of the business plan and the realisation of our strategic vision”.

Based in Founder's Place, the Pattern Shop marks the latest redevelopment to take shape at the site, with a £9m restoration to turn it into a modern office space, having previously been left derelict since 2008. ‘The office is currently being fitted out ahead of welcoming the bank's staff at the end of September.

Atom’s CEO Mark Mullen said: “Having spent our first decade in Durham, this autumn we will move into our new HQ building, the Pattern Shop, located in the Stephenson Quarter near the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne.