BNP Paribas Real Estate is proposing to close its Manchester and Cardiff offices as part of a UK-wide review of its business.
The proposal to shut the two offices would put up to 20 jobs at risk, and comes as BNP PRE looks to focus on the best-performing areas of its business.
The agent announced in a statement last week that 70 staff within the firm had entered into redundancy consultation as part of a UK-wide restructuring. The 20 jobs that could be at risk in Manchester and Cardiff make up part of the 70 staff already in consultation.
It is not thought that BNP PRE is considering closing any other regional offices.
The move, made by the firm’s UK board, has been made in an attempt to reduce businesses within the firm which have not made a profit during the downturn, and which are expected not to return to profit in the next few years.
BNP PRE, which stands at number 11 in the Estates Gazette top agents ranking, stressed that the decision had nothing to do with pressures on French banks to cut costs resulting from the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, and added that it had nothing to do with its recent aborted attempt to take over rival agent DTZ.
james.buckley@estatesgazette.com
