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300 jobs coming to capital with Shaw call centre

Shaw Communications is bringing 300 new jobs to the capital region at a customer-care call centre being developed at Uptown in Saanich. The new positions will be added to the existing 500 Shaw employees already working in Greater Victoria.
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The Uptown building where Shaw's call centre will be based.

 

Shaw Communications is bringing 300 new jobs to the capital region at a customer-care call centre being developed at Uptown in Saanich.

The new positions will be added to the existing 500 Shaw employees already working in Greater Victoria.

Some of the new jobs are expected to be filled by Shaw employees working in locations elsewhere that are scheduled to close.

Calgary-based Shaw announced this week that 1,600 staff will be affected when it closes call centres as it realigns customer service operations. Edmonton and part of the Kelowna office will close in June. Calgary will close in January 2016. Shaw is expanding call centres in Victoria, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal.

The company is offering $7,500 to workers in the cities with closures to move to one of the expanded locations. It is too soon to say how many will relocate to the capital region.

Victoria was among the cities chosen after Shaw reviewed the long-term performance of its locations and looked at their ability to meet future needs, the company said.

Ledcor Construction Ltd. is carrying out tenant improvements for the call centre in the clock tower building at the Uptown retail and commercial complex. The building permit for the work is valued at $2 million.

The 33,000-square-foot call centre is scheduled to begin operating in April, Shaw spokesman Chethan Lakshman said Thursday.

Shaw already has a retail store at Uptown, which is separate from the call centre. The company will retain ownership, staff and infrastructure equipment at its office at 861 Cloverdale Ave. No change is planned to Shaw’s studio in the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

The new Shaw jobs will add to about 2,000 people already working at the mixed-use Uptown centre, where the first of more than 60 tenants arrived in 2010. With more arrivals in the works, including Vancouver Island’s first Whole Foods Market and a relocated Michaels store, the total could rise by another 1,000 workers in two years, said Roberta Ferguson, Uptown general manager.

cjwilson@timescolonist.com