Jobs boost for Belfast

The company hopes to create 295 new jobs

There has been an employment boost for Belfast with the creation of almost 300 jobs at a new centre in the city.

The Regus Group, one of the world's largest providers of serviced offices, said it was investing more than £4m in a shared services centre at Clarendon Dock.

The company, which employs 2,500 people worldwide, has a network of more than 400 business centres in 50 countries.

The centre, which will initially be based in the company's dock premises, will provide administrative, accounting and operational support for the Regus network.

We chose Northern Ireland for the unrivalled availability of well-educated and skilled people,

Stephen Jolly
Regus

Announcing the jobs boost, Northern Ireland Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Sir Reg Empey said it was a welcome development.

Sir Reg said: "This is a strategically important project which will significantly enhance the development of the shared services sector in Northern Ireland.

"It is consistent with my department's on-going strategy of targeting high quality projects in the contract services sector.

'High quality posts'

"It will provide hard evidence to other potential investors of the benefits of locating this type of investment in Northern Ireland."

The jobs will be built up over the next four years, offering high quality posts ranging from multi-lingual administrative positions to high-level financial posts.

Speaking at the announcement of the investment, Stephen Jolly, Group Communications Director of Regus, said: "Our goal is to become the leading provider of high quality business services to the global economy.

"We considered a number of possible locations across Europe for this investment but chose Northern Ireland for the unrivalled availability of well-educated and skilled people, with the motivation and dedication that is vital to the success of this kind of project."