Chris Riley, director of public affairs for RBS Card Services and Citizens Bank.
The emerald-glass Royal Bank of Scotland building by I-95 in Stamford has risen steadily through infernal economic times, its progress charted by millions from the elevated traffic jams nearby.
The nearly finished building, RBS”™ new U.S. headquarters, is situated diagonally from the Stamford train station and contains the world’s largest trading floor, across the street from the current trading-floor heavyweight, UBS. The building”™s opening in stages has more and more employees making their commutes to the south end.
“Things are going well logistically,” said Chris Riley, director of public affairs for RBS Card Services and Citizens Bank. “Folks have been moving in since March and we are on target to have 2,000-plus in the building by the end of the year.”
The building is also to be one of the largest LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a national designation) buildings in the state.
“We are going to have these people occupying this enormous building,” said Riley. “We”™ve been bringing in small groups at a time. We are still on point to have more than 2,000 people in the building by the end of the year.”
The million-square-foot building will include a 95,000-square-foot trading floor, enough space for 1,000 traders, on the sixth floor. Also in the plans is space to accommodate an additional 400 traders on the seventh floor.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, if RBS relocates to its new space without stutter or misstep, it will prove to be a rarity in the current Stamford office market.
The new building is expected to attract more than 1,800 jobs and could possibly stimulate an additional 2,500 indirect jobs throughout the city.
Though RBS will be bringing jobs to Stamford, the company has confirmed earlier rumors via official statement that it could shed up to 9,000 jobs over the next two years, in addition to 2,700 job cuts already announced toward reducing its 170,000 global banking work force.
“We are still moving ahead and expect to move in later this year,” said Riley, vice president and director of public affairs at RBS. “It is still an active construction site. Some of the office spaces are still being prepared. There is some final work that has to be done by the operational side of the building.”
According to Riley, what is left of the construction is to fit the ninth and tenth floors, primarily with IT installations, as well as completing offices, meeting rooms, furniture and work station installations on various floors.
The work has prevented complete interior tours.
RBS employees can be seen from I-95 on nice days walking on the buildings plateaulike, grass-covered terrace.
The 200-year-old bank was partially nationalized after the British government stepped in with a multibillion-dollar bailout to save it from collapse late last year. The institution lost nearly $41 billion last year and saw its shares fall in value by nearly 70 percent.
The site is situated across four acres along Washington Boulevard and the Mill River.
According to Riley, the bank is sparing no expense when it comes to greening the building, seeking LEED”™s top certification. “It will be the largest such building in Connecticut, if not all of New England,” he said.
