More than a third of the people currently working for Great British Energy live outside Scotland, despite Aberdeen being designated as the headquarters of the publicly owned energy company.
Figures reported this week show that Great British Energy employs 132 people, of whom 46 live elsewhere in the UK. Only 53 of the total workforce are permanent staff, with the remainder made up of temporary assignments, loans, secondments and contingent workers.
The figures do not mean that Great British Energy has abandoned Aberdeen. The company has confirmed Marischal Square as its permanent headquarters and says it intends to move there later in 2026. Fit-out work began in May.
What they do show is that the geographical distribution of the organisation’s workforce remains some distance from the political promise attached to Aberdeen when the headquarters decision was announced.
When Aberdeen was selected in September 2024, the UK Government said the move would place the city “at the heart” of Great British Energy and allow the company to draw upon its engineering expertise. Smaller sites were also planned for Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Great British Energy’s own careers material says the organisation expects to grow to a team of 300 people by 2030. Current vacancies include positions based in Aberdeen and others offered across Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The roles range from investment and project development to grid management, commercial functions, health and safety and supply-chain strategy.
That recruitment programme may eventually alter the balance substantially. It has not done so yet..
In May, a UK parliamentary answer showed Great British Energy then had 30 permanent staff, 37 people temporarily assigned from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 21 on loan from other government departments, 12 seconded from government or external organisations and 23 contingent workers.
Taken together, those categories amounted to 123 people at the time. Ministers said the company’s workforce pay case had been approved and permanent recruitment was expected to increase significantly during the following financial year.
The current reported figure of 132 therefore indicates continued growth, while the rise in permanent employees to 53 suggests some of the organisation is beginning to move from its start-up staffing model towards a more settled workforce.
The more difficult question for Aberdeen is where that permanent workforce will ultimately live and work.
The government’s formal expectation, given in Parliament in February 2025, was that Great British Energy would employ between 200 and 300 people at its Aberdeen headquarters over the following five years. Ministers also said the company would support thousands of jobs more widely through its activities and investments.
That is narrower than some of the political language surrounding Great British Energy during its creation.
The larger ambition of around 1,000 direct jobs has increasingly been presented as a long-term objective rather than an immediate headquarters figure. Former chair Juergen Maier previously indicated that reaching that scale could take 10 or 20 years.
For Aberdeen, that changes the timescale against which delivery has to be judged.
A city facing the decline of employment associated with the mature North Sea oil and gas sector was offered more than an administrative address. The economic argument for placing the new public energy company in Aberdeen rested heavily on the ability to retain skills, attract new work and build a clean-energy employment base around an existing industrial workforce.
Sources
Great British Energy — Careers
https://www.gbe.gov.uk/careers
Great British Energy — Great British Energy Announces Aberdeen Headquarters, 12 February 2026
https://www.gbe.gov.uk/blog/great-british-energy-announces-aberdeen-headquarters
Great British Energy — About Us
https://www.gbe.gov.uk/about-us
UK Parliament — Great British Energy: Staffing, written answer, 21 May 2026
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-05-18/2386/
UK Parliament — Great British Energy: Aberdeen, written answer, 11 February 2025
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-02-03/28117/
UK Government — Aberdeen To Host Great British Energy HQ In UK-Wide Clean Energy Drive, 24 September 2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/aberdeen-to-host-great-british-energy-hq-in-uk-wide-clean-energy-drive
UK Government — Major Works Commence At Great British Energy HQ, 29 May 2026
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-works-commence-at-great-british-energy-hq
Government Property Agency — Major Project Begins At Great British Energy HQ, 28 May 2026
https://gpa.gov.uk/insights/news/major-project-begins-at-great-british-energy-hq/
The Times — Over A Third Of GB Energy Workers Live Outside Scotland, 20 August 2026
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/third-gb-energy-workers-live-outside-scotland-b0bzqdzhw
