Flutter Unveils New £15m Innovation and Tech Hub
Flutter Entertainment has officially opened a new £15m innovation and technology hub in Yorkshire. The building in Leeds covers over 136,000 square feet and enables all 1,7000 employees to work under the same roof for the first time.
Flutter Unveils New Tech Hub © Pixabay.
Flutter Entertainment, the owner of UK-facing brands including Paddy Power, betfair, Pokerstars and Sky betting & gaming, has officially opened its new 136,000 sq ft technology and innovation hub.
The office in Leeds, located at 4 Wellington Place and affectionately titled 4 WP, was designed by the well-renowned British architect company TSK. The office space is spread over eight floors and allows Flutters different divisions, product development, software engineering, research, and customer insight initiatives teams, to work together under the same roof.
The building will also be the base for Sky Betting & Gaming’s (SBG) ‘Skills Academy’, which the company promotes as a ‘Kickstarter’ scheme similar to the government’s programme. The scheme aims to give youngsters ‘opportunities for those who need them the most whilst building a successful, sustainable and inclusive business.’
Michael Afflick, Brand, Creative & Sponsorship Director at Sky Betting and Gaming, said the building doesn’t feel like working in an office. He said: “genuinely what I’m most excited about is that we’ve got a space that doesn’t feel like a call centre, it doesn’t feel like an office, it feels like a space I can come in and be creative. If I want, I can work silently; if I want, I can genuinely work however suits me.”
Scott Langshaw, project Director at TSK, said: The project at the time was the largest project in Yorkshire, at just under 136,000 square feet, a large scale project of that size in the middle of a pandemic, in such a fast track project nature was a challenge. And it was a challenge that the whole task a team were up for”
Langshaw also explained the challenges of completing this project during a global pandemic and the steps they made. “Because it was very fast track in nature, the decision was made to run all eight floors concurrent. And because we were in the depth of a pandemic at the time, and because of obviously the health and safety conscious nature of TSK and the client, we decided to break the project down into smaller bite-sized pieces. So this would assist in being able to work through the project quicker.”Langshaw explained.
“It allowed us better control and management on site. And it provided elements of COVID Bubbles.”
“So should there have been an outbreak on-site, rather than affect the full eight-floor project, we could then focus on managing the smaller bite-sized projects.“
“And we also engaged with our appointed and nominated COVID Manager logistics manager.“
“And because of the way we managed it and planned in advance, he took care of the 150+ operatives that are on-site on a daily basis.“
“Thankfully, because it was well managed, we didn’t have any COVID outbreaks on site.” He added.
Each floor in the new building will serve a separate function. These include; forum space, meeting room, presentation room, focus, lounge and social areas.
The social areas are located in the centre of each floor with all office and meeting room exits leading into the social areas.
Despite investing £15m in the building, Flutter is keen to continue with a hybrid model and have invested £1m in video conferencing and audio-visual equipment to allow remote and office-based employees to join the so-called ‘neighbourhoods’ for each operating department.
The investment in conference equipment also allows employees from different countries to join in meetings. Alongside Leeds, Flutter also has offices in Sofia in Bulgaria and India.
You can see a video of the new 4 WP building via the TSK group’s website/
