Computacenter CEO admits he didn't recognise revamped London office

Mike Norris says he walked straight past the front door of revamped Blackfriars Road base, which has been renamed 100 Blackfriars

Computacenter has moved its 350 London-based staff back into its Blackfriars Road office this week following the completion of a year-long refurbishment project.

The reseller and services giant had temporarily been operating from Swan Lane while the building recieved a facelift.

CEO Mike Norris yesterday took to Linkedin to post a shot of himself (pictured) standing outside 100 Blackfriars Road with the message that it is "great to be back home".

But Norris admitted to CRN that he'd made a schoolboy error when returning to the office after lunch.

"At lunchtime, I went for a sandwich and on the way back I walked straight past the front door, because I didn't recognise the building," he said.

"After 26 years of use and not much more than a lick of paint during that time, the building needed a refurb. The buildings around it are mainly new and when you walked down Blackfriars Road we were looking incredibly dated."

The office has new carpets, windows, meeting rooms and air conditioning, but Norris said the big difference is on the outside.

"Outside it's wrapped in this skin that I swear to you I didn't recognise - from the outside, it is 'wow'," he said.

The name of the building has also been changed from Computacenter House, 91-93 Blackfriars Road to Computacenter, 100 Blackfriars Road, which Norris said cost the firm £68.

"It looks neat on the sign and the stationery - it's the little things that please me," he said.

UK country unit director Kevin James also tweeted ahead of the move last week:

Large chunks of Blackfriars Road are being rebuilt, and plans were approved last summer for the development of a 22-storey office tower.

Computacenter, whose head office is in Hatfield, has been based at the Blackfriars Road location since 1990.

It also has offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Reading and Sheffield.