Non-major ‘consolidates’ Brisbane office presence

Heritage Bank has announced that it will close its offices at 80 Petrie Terrace in Milton and 307 Queen Street in Brisbane’s central business district and consolidate the two into a new office location.

The new office, located by the river at Level 3 of 175 Eagle Street, will house all Heritage’s Brisbane staff in one location and “be fitted out to cater for the post-COVID working environment”.

The bank’s headquarters will remain in Toowoomba, and the bank’s Brisbane CBD branch (307 Queen Street) will also remain in its existing location.  

According to the non-major bank, the move will take place in “mid to late June” 2021.   

Heritage CEO Peter Lock said that the new office, which is situated next to the Customs House, would give the bank “extra space, as well as cost savings, and the opportunity to rethink our fit-out to meet emerging post-COVID trends”.

He explained: “Rather than permanent desks allocated to individuals, the space will have bookable hot desks. We’ve found working from home such a success during COVID that most of our office staff are now on a hybrid working model, some days at home and some in the office.  

“That’s likely to be an ongoing feature of our working environment. 

“Hot-desking is a better way to cater for this new working model and to provide spaces for our people from outside to work when they visit Brisbane.” 

He added: “This is an excellent outcome and will provide us with an attractive, efficient and cost-effective office presence in the Brisbane CBD.” 

Several lenders have been updating their operational functions and workplace structure since COVID-19, with NAB recently announcing that it had hired 134 mobile small-business bankers who will have base locations in regional towns, including Warragul (Victoria), Albany (Western Australia), Lismore (NSW), Rockhampton (Queensland) and Toowoomba (Queensland). 

Customers will be able to connect to their nearest small-business banker initially by phone or online.

The move aims to help support more businesses with their credit needs and take advantage of the surge in activity in the regions following the COVID-19 pandemic and follows on from NAB having partially closed 114 regional branches last year. 

[Related: Major bank to partially close 114 regional branches]