West Brom Building Society opens the doors of its new headquarters
This is the home 'back to basics' built - the towering new headquarters of the Black Country's biggest building society, the West Brom.
A strong recovery after getting back to home loans and savings, following near collapse in the wake of the credit crunch, has left the society, with 460,000 members, facing the future with confidence.
Bright and airy, the £20 million, five-storey 70,000 sq ft offices in Providence Place are now home to up to 550 staff, with another 200 working at the West Brom's 37 branches.
It may just be a few hundred yards from the society's old 1970s head office, but the difference in the two could be measured in miles.
"We have room to grow," says chief executive Jonathan Westhoff. "We could hold up to 700 people here. We had literally run out of room at the old offices."
But, less than a decade ago, such a move would have been unthinkable.
Indeed, in 2008 plans for a new office in Dudley were scrapped and 150 jobs axed in the wake of the credit crunch.
And there was worse to come.
Just months later the West Brom revealed staggering losses of £48 million, largely from toxic commercial property loans and buy-to-let mortgages.
The 160-year old building society was only saved from collapse by a £182m bail-out deal.
Robert Sharpe, the chief executive parachuted in to rescue the ailing West Brom, recruited Jonathan Westhoff as he launched a 'back to basics' campaign, returning to its traditional role of looking after savings and helping families buy homes.
Mr Westhoff took the helm when Mr Sharpe retired, in 2011, and has put the West Brom back on track as one of the most soundly finance building societies in the country.
Its most recent figures revealed mortgage lending was up 50 per cent to £441 million.
Underlying profit tripled to £3.8m and it was able to withstand a £27.5m payout ordered by the Court of Appeal after losing a case over the interest it was charging 6,700 buy to let landlords.
