Vodafone outlines plans for a sale and leaseback deal on its Newbury headquarters

Vodafone has announced plans to sell off the freehold of its Newbury campus.

It will then take on long-term leases on the buildings it now needs.

The move comes as a result of a "blended working" trial, following the coronavirus pandemic.

The telecoms giant said it was “exploring a change of ownership structure and its Newbury site”.

It is believed that the company will lease back four of the seven buildings on the site - which was built in 2002.

It added that all proceeds from the sale will “be invested back into the business, and Vodafone remains fully committed to a long term presence as a major employer in the town”.

Clare Corkish, UK HR Director for Vodafone, said: “This is an exciting time for Vodafone UK as we increase recruitment and investment in our people, and move forward with our future ready way of working based on flexibility and trust.

“The pandemic forced us to make many changes – we’ve learned a lot from these and have been able to make some big improvements to the way in which we work as a result.

“With our new approach, we’re confident that we can give our teams a great working environment with flexibility to suit them, recruit from more parts of the UK from now on, and continue to improve the service we provide to our customers.”

It also announced yesterday (Wednesday) that more than 300 new roles will be available at the Vodafone Stoke-on-Trent office over the coming year as the site becomes home to new sales centre of excellence.