Heritage Bank announces massive new Toowoomba CBD headquarters by 2025
One of Toowoomba’s homegrown success stories has revealed it will invest millions into a new headquarters in the CBD, with the office to feature a “campus-style”.
Business
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Toowoomba’s Heritage Bank has promised to build a massive new “campus-style” head office in the city centre within the next five years.
One of the nation’s largest mutual banks will announce the multimillion-dollar project at its AGM in Toowoomba today, with the building to be ready in time for the company’s 150th birthday celebrations in 2025.
Chairman Kerry Betros said the building would have a minimum of 5000 sqm of floor space for Heritage, which already owns one of the city’s tallest buildings as its headquarters.
“We’re very proud of our history in Toowoomba which stretches back almost 150 years,” he said in a statement.
“We’re cementing that commitment by launching this plan to build a new headquarters in the heart of the Toowoomba CBD.
“Our vision is to create a new home that will become an iconic landmark for the city and help shape the future of Toowoomba forever.
“We will work with our development partners to identify the right site and move forward with this project, which will be a game-changer both for Heritage and the Toowoomba region.”
No site has been chosen or identified for the new building.
Mr Betros said the construction of the building would not hamper ongoing merger negotiations between the lender and Adelaide-based People’s Choice Credit Union.
“Importantly, if the proposed merger proceeds, both Heritage and People’s Choice are committed to maintaining dual head offices – one in Toowoomba and one in Adelaide,” he said.
“While this project fits perfectly with the merger proposal, we believe it’s so important for Toowoomba that we will push forward with our plans, independent of progress on the merger.”
Company CEO Peter Lock said Heritage would continue using the existing building until the new site was finished, with the options either to sell or lease to other commercial interests.
“The existing head office building is more than 40 years old. We’ve outgrown its capacity and the design doesn’t really lend itself to modern ways of working,” he said.
“The new head office complex will be a contemporary and modern workplace, designed with the lessons of Covid in mind to fit hybrid working models, as well as providing us with added capacity to cater for future growth.”
It comes a month after Heritage announced a near-record $44.8m after-tax profit result in 2020-21.
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