BMO Call Centre (Mississauga, First Gulf, 10s)

[khris]

This is older news that I forgot to post here. Not sure what the building will be called, or the address. If anyone has any information, please do share.

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Call centre will be city’s largest office building

BMO Bank of Montreal, First Gulf Corporation and Sun Life Financial are joining forces to construct what will be the largest office building in Mississauga when it opens in 2010.

The 10-storey, 250,000-sq.-ft. facility, which will be located on Argentia Rd. in Meadowvale, near Hwy. 401 and Mississauga Rd., will house 1,200 work stations as the companies seek to create one huge customer contact centre. Three of BMO's contact centre groups — BMO's Direct Banking, Card & Retail Payment Services and Risk Collections — will operate under one roof.
Michael Thornburrow, BMO Financial Group senior vice-president, corporate real estate and sourcing, said bringing the groups together in the state-of-the-art facility will enhance the staff's ability to work together to quickly and effectively attend to customer needs.

The building will be constructed to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards that include energy-efficient heating and cooling systems.

Source

 

[urbandreamer]

Great strategy here: So now when customers get ticked off about customer service, they'll know where to come to take it out on the "employees."

ps, maybe I'll be working here someday?

 

[maestro]

^How could you even think it?!?

Ten story building surrounded by ten acres of parking!

I'd be pissed!

http://www.firstmeadowvale.com/pdf/FMCC_SitePlan.pdf

 

[Edward]

What a waste of space.

 

[wonderboy416]

Great news.
Full-time CSR type jobs pay anywhere from $14-20/hour for low knowledge level stuff and can go much higher ($40k/yr+ in some fields). Not a terrific amount of money but jobs are jobs.

These are good starter jobs for people freshly out of school and believe it or not, some people enjoy them enough to make a career out of it.
It's fantastic to see jobs like this go to Canadians and not India.
The trend seems to be overseas or the east coast.. so great news for Ontario that some companies are still willing to buck the current disturbing trends.

 

[CityPlaceN1]

Good for the jobs but an urban planning disaster.

 

[maestro]

Full-time CSR type jobs pay anywhere from $14-20/hour for low knowledge level stuff and can go much higher ($40k/yr+ in some fields). Not a terrific amount of money but jobs are jobs.

Bad news that they are leaving Bloor & vicinity for the hinterlands. (unless you own an investment rental property long past the thin red line.)

 

[marcus_a_j]

Good for the jobs but an urban planning disaster.

I agree. Maybe sometime in the future they could redevelop the parking lot and put in something a bit more intensive like a 20 storey, 400,000 sq. ft. building towards the south part of the site. Include some underground parking and a 3 or 4 level parking structure. It's pretty close to the Meadowvale GO station, and with all-day two-way trains on the Milton Line I don't see why people couldn't take the GO train to work. Also, redevelop the parking lot between the Station and this site to make it more accomodating for pedestrians as well.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?client=firefox-a&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.601108,-79.753125&spn=0.006961,0.013819&t=h&z=16

 

[threnody]

I always wonder how people with these $14/hour jobs manage to find the money to own a car. Must not have a lot of money left over for recreation.

 

[maestro]

^but why not now instead of some distant future?

And I say "distant" because here's the siteplan for phase 2 on page 2

http://www.firstgulf.com/pdfs/firstgulf_innovations_fall2008.pdf

 

[ShonTron]

I agree. Maybe sometime in the future they could redevelop the parking lot and put in something a bit more intensive like a 20 storey, 400,000 sq. ft. building towards the south part of the site. Include some underground parking and a 3 or 4 level parking structure. It's pretty close to the Meadowvale GO station, and with all-day two-way trains on the Milton Line I don't see why people couldn't take the GO train to work. Also, redevelop the parking lot between the Station and this site to make it more accomodating for pedestrians as well.

There you go. YOU'RE THINKING LONG TERM UNLIKE THE MISSISSAUGA BASHERS HERE WHO CAN'T GROW UP AND THINK LONG TERM!

Seriously, while I'd like to see that, that's not the typical nature of suburban office parks. One of the worst though, that near Hurontario and Britannia but off to itself on an industrial road, has a giant parking garage as well. The RBC to the north at least has access to the street, and MT has bent over backwards to serve that. Not so optimistic here.'

One could at least wish for something like RBC or have the parking at the back even in phase one.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I always wonder how people with these $14/hour jobs manage to find the money to own a car. Must not have a lot of money left over for recreation.

Don't assume they live alone and you won't need to wonder...

 

[doady]

If I am not mistaken, typical office parks do not have high rise or any parking garages, and yet office parks in Mississauga do. If the City has too high standards then no new office buildings would be built at all. After all, just look at how many offices have been constructed in the City Centre in the past 10 years. Even at Hurontario and Britannia, most of the land remains undeveloped.

 

[Dan416]

Their site says theat two-way service via GO will be available in 2012, so it looks like they're pushing that aspect. Now driving down the 401 you'll see both RBC and BMO towers in Meadowvale. Meadowvale as the new financial capital of Canada?

 

[taal]

lol ... the new financial call center capital of Canada