NCSC's London HQ was chosen because GCHQ spies panicked at the prospect of grubby Shoreditch offices The National Cyber Security Centre picked its London HQ building not because it was the best or most cost-efficient location – but because the agency "prioritised image over cost", a Parliamentary committee has said. NCSC's HQ in the English capital's Nova South development, a glitzy commercial building near Westminster, was …
Why, oh why, oh why the fuck in London.
Every time something new like this is set up **IT’S ALWAYS THE FUCK IN London**. London-centric/first as ever.
By it’s nature IT, comms etc can be anywhere.
NCSC could have been anywhere from Carlisle to Weymouth, Inverness to Swansea.
Alight with a good tech University , GCHQ?
For the same reason that public enquiries are always headed by a (sometimes retired) judge*. Keep it all nice and 'in the family'. Don't want any unpredictable outsiders doing anything like actually deciding things rationally. Of course the lawyers reckon they are the best at asking questions, but honestly, Dorothy Hodgkin, Mary Beard, Paul Nurse, Harry Kroto are / were just as good, if not better, and are interested in reality, rather than 'the best argument'.**
The problem is that senior people in government like to be able to talk in person to senior people. And while some senior people are in London, the others want to be there too. The Northern Powerhouse would only really happen if the House of Commons moved to Barnsley.
*Like it or not, all senior judges have succeeded and risen through the ranks in a system of justice that still discriminates significantly against non-male, non-white, non-upper or middle class non-CofE brits, and strongly against non-public school and Oxbridge educated elite. The majority of judges were educated in private schools and went to Oxbridge, and are white, male and privileged, Lady Hale notwithstanding.
**My mother was a lay magistrate ('muppet' in the Police slang). Her training included a stern instruction that they were not there to decide on what had actually happened, but on which was the best argument from the prosecution or the defence.
I agree. Even if they do need to be in London, there is plenty of office space in the fringes. TfL moved to North Greenwich a few years back and a few departments have moved to Canary Wharf.
The departments will always make noise about accessibility and staff retention but it’s just that - noise. People adjust. Some move on. Life goes on
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
