British Airways mulls sale of HQ due to homeworking

British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) is considering selling the building near London Heathrow that houses its headquarters, as the switch to homeworking during the Covid-19 pandemic means that the carrier may no longer require so much office space. The move would be part of a plan to allow head-office staff to split their time permanently between home and office after the pandemic, the Financial Times reported citing an internal email. British Airways has hired property consultants to evaluate the sale of the complex, called Waterside, which houses 2,000 employees. The building was completed in 1998 at a total cost, including the land, of GBP200 million pounds (USD277 million). “Many of us are based at Waterside, and it’s not clear if such a large office will play a part in our future,” Stuart Kennedy, the airline’s director of people, said in the email. However, he cautioned that this was just one of several possible options. “One of the very few positive aspects” of the pandemic has been how well employees have adapted to remote working, he said, adding: “We’ll want to consider what the ideal office layout for the future will be. Perhaps it’s less fixed desks and more casual meeting areas, and we need to consider colleague wellbeing too.” As the IAG International Airlines Group subsidiary continues to cut costs. It has shed more than 10,000 employees. That leaves it with about 30,000, many of whom are not back-office workers but pilots, cabin crew, and airport and MRO staff. It has also raised cash by selling famous works of art that once hung in areas such as its executive lounges. Waterside’s future, which is also IAG’s HQ, was already uncertain as it would have to be demolished if a third runway is eventually built at Heathrow. As in other countries, the shift to homeworking over the last year has prompted many companies in the United Kingdom, such as HSBC Bank, Lloyds, Centrica, and National Westminster Bank, to introduce various forms of hybrid working. The pandemic has “accelerated our approach to offering more agile and flexible ways of working,” BA said in a statement.