Students Loans Company moves into new Glasgow headquarters at £500m Buchanan Wharf development

The Student Loans Company has started 2024 in its new headquarters in Buchanan Wharf in Glasgow city centre. SLC has been based in the city’s Bothwell Street since its inception more than 30 years ago. Now, more than 1,000 staff have moved into the new six-storey, 75,000 sq ft headquarters by the Clyde the final part of the Buchanan Wharf development.

The organisation has signed a 20-year lease on the purpose-built space, designed to encourage collaboration and provide a modern working environment. Developed and built by Drum Property Group and Graham Construction, the site has followed the UK Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Building – Performance Levels guidelines and will secure a BREEAM Excellent certification - the globally recognised standard for best practice in the design, construction, and operation of sustainable buildings. It’s also received a WiredScore Platinum rating for its digital connectivity.

SLC is working with the Government Property Agency on its UK Government Hubs Programme, which is facilitating the co-locating up to 600 civil servants. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority will move into the building with SLC in the Spring.

David Wallace, Deputy Chief Executive, at SLC said: “Being able to start 2024 in our new headquarters feels very fitting. SLC has been part of Glasgow for more than 30 years and with more than 1,000 colleagues working in the city, we feel part of the history and fabric of the business community.

“Getting to this point has taken a lot of work but our vision for the office, which was created with our colleagues, has always been to deliver a space that fits the modern working world and we’ve certainly achieved that. It already feels like home.”

The completion of the SLC building represents the final piece in the jigsaw for Drum Property Group’s Buchanan Wharf site, one of Scotland’s largest ever development projects. The new city centre quarter provides a mix of local amenities, cycle lanes and landscaped public spaces and is already home to Barclay’s state-of-the-art Northern European campus HQ and Solasta Riverside, an 18-storey, 324-apartment residential complex owned by Legal & General.