A new government office in Salford has been officially opened by a minister.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) hub at Trinity Bridge House will become the base for 420 civil servants by 2025.
The building, which is already used by HMRC, could be also be a base for other civil service staff who are set to relocate to Salford over the next four years.
READ MORE: Hundreds of civil service jobs will be based in Salford by 2025, government says
It comes as the government aims for a quarter of all civil service jobs to be based outside of London in the next four years as part of its levelling up plans.
But BEIS is expecting to go beyond this, with 30 pc of its workforce to be based in regional offices and up to 570 jobs at the Salford office by 2030.
Business and Energy Minister Greg Hands, who visited the new office today (October 28), said the move to Greater Manchester makes 'perfect sense'.
He said: "It's part of the government's levelling up agenda. We think that the skills base in Greater Manchester and the region is very, very good.
"We're taking on a lot of highly skilled civil servants here. A lot of people working on net zero, climate change, energy and how the UK makes the transition to ending its contribution to climate change.
"A huge amount of work will be done here."
The Conservative MP said the government will be tapping into the 'high skills cluster' in the city-region, referring to the three universities located nearby.
Around 75 civil servants will be relocated from London, including Director General Ben Rimmington who will now be based in the new Salford office.
But there will also be 162 new employees recruited by the end of this year.
It is hoped that the move will also kickstart more 'high tech, high skilled' employment in the North West's net zero and green energy sectors.
Making 'high level' jobs like this available across the UK is an 'incredibly important' part of levelling up, according to the Business and Energy Minister.
He said: "I think levelling up will be something that will be going on for a long time. It's quite a big ask.
"The regional disparities in the United Kingdom are quite challenging. They're bigger than they should be.
"I don't see levelling up as having a time limit or having a specific numeric deliverable.
"It's all about equality of opportunity and those opportunities being available right across the country. That's in the whole country's interest."
The government minister said he hopes to come to the new office 'quite often' – although he does not have a target for how frequently he will be in Salford.
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