NCSC's London HQ was chosen because GCHQ spies panicked at the prospect of grubby Shoreditch offices
- Reference: 1605871753
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/20/ncsc_nova_south_hq_isc_report/
- Source link:
NCSC's HQ in the English capital's Nova South development, a glitzy commercial building near Westminster, was procured in breach of GCHQ's own rules on leasing commercial buildings.
Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said in a report that NCSC "ignored warnings" over the cost and suitability of its new base when it set itself in mandarin-friendly Victoria. Rather than picking "a 'tech hub' such as Shoreditch", as recommended by their own consultants, NCSC's founders threw their teddies out of the pram until they got an HQ in the altogether more refined location of Westminster.
"Moreover, as the change in location criterion was driven by the need for the NCSC to be more Whitehall-facing than industry-facing, 'image' should have then become proportionately less important," thundered the irate MPs of the ISC, which investigated the property deal. The committee published its [1]full report on the embarrassingly wasteful bunfight yesterday.
Even though GCHQ (which supplied NCSC's founding personnel) had commissioned property consultants to scout out London's available commercial buildings, NCSC's founders knew where they wanted to set up shop – and when their consultants gave the wrong answer, the spies started moving the goalposts and calling in ministerial favours.
Panicked by the prospect of being dumped in Shoreditch, or at the very least being assigned to Canary Wharf alongside such household names as the Pensions Ombudsman and the Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, GCHQ threw a wobbly. It was simply essential, declared the spies after the consultants recommended east London, that the fledgling NCSC be housed near to Westminster.
Unimpressed by the spies' histrionics, Sir Mark Lyall-Grant, then national security adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, refused to sign off on their proposed Nova South location – prompting GCHQ to call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, to overrule him. Lyall-Grant was GCHQ's "principal accounting officer", meaning the final decision on property rental should have been his. Yet NCSC was Osborne's project, the Chancellor having [2]announced the new centre's creation in 2016 , and he wasn't going to stand for his new baby being born into hipster heaven.
Shoreditch and Old Street, long promoted by London's tech sector as trendy places full of innovation and expertise, was once a grimy area full of tired old buildings until so-called gentrification. While spies might not have wanted to rub shoulders with the bearded brigade, Nova South [3]reportedly comes in at £6.4m a year .
Stung by the ISC criticism, NCSC wheeled out current Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who made a statement to Parliament yesterday saying: "As the public-facing part of GCHQ and the UK's lead technical authority on cyber security, the NCSC required a workspace which balanced the need for accessibility and operational capability to defend the UK against cyber threats effectively."
He also said "lessons will be learned", for what it's worth. ®
Bootnote
Your correspondent has visited Nova South. On the inside it looks like any other office building, though it's across the road from Victoria Station which is mildly handy – as is the number of coffee shops and restaurants on the building's ground floor.
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[1] http://isc.independent.gov.uk/news-archive/19november2020
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/26/uk_cyber_security_centre_blueprint/
[3] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/11/19/government-overspent-ncscs-64m-year-london-office-says-report/
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: mandarin-friendly Victoria
"Just who are [sic] running GCHQ?"
Whitehall mandarins, the same as run the rest of Government.
I must re-read the Yes Minister books again. There was an episode about trying to move Government out of London where Sir Humphrey listed the essential reasons why the Civil Service needed to be in Central London. Cricket at Lords was one, and I think proximity to Fortnum & Masons another. "We may all be on a diet of Lossiemouth" was a quote I (probably mis-) remember from it.
Getting put in charge of a nice shiny new Government department, only to find your desk is in Canary Wharf ("simply miles from my club!") would be a fate worse than death for Sir Humphrey.
Re: mandarin-friendly Victoria
"I must re-read the Yes Minister books again."
One or other of them should be a set book for GCSE English. Every year. They're now sufficiently old to be considered classics (which they always were, of course) and far more relevant than the classics Dickens and Jane Austen were in my day.
BTW Lossiemouth was a warning to Bernard that it might be his diet.
The first two episodes of YPM were on BBC4 the other evening. It doesn't seem to be part of a plan to rebroadcast the lot.
Re: mandarin-friendly Victoria
The year 2020 was mentioned in the episode I saw.
Re: mandarin-friendly Victoria
There's another one where Humphrey suggests Hacker's political advisor should be found an office in Walthamstow: "It's a very nice part of Walthamstow." "And Walthamstow is a very nice place... so I gather."
Re: mandarin-friendly Victoria
The Chinese, obviously. Or the Lord of the Tangerines. Or both.
Shoreditch would have been a poor choice of location for anyone travelling between Cheltenham and London. From Paddington the nearest they can get on a single tube line would be Moorgate or Liverpool Street, whereas Victoria is a single trip on the Circle or District line.
They knew, being spies, how late the Elizabeth Line would be. That promises a direct higher speed link to Moorage, which as you know is 5mins walk away from Shoreditch.
Victoria is only a single trip on the Circle line, but wait times can be 10mins + 13mins for the journey - even at peak time. The District line does not run directly from Paddington to Victoria.
being assigned to Canary Wharf
WTF? My wife's agency got shifted from Victoria to Canary Wharf last year, as it was "Too expensive".
Talk about double frikkin standards..
Re: being assigned to Canary Wharf
Does your wife's agency have the ability to secretly access the personal communications of the Chancellor of the Exchequer?
No double standards to see here, move along.
Re: being assigned to Canary Wharf
*cough* NHSX *cough*
Nul point as they are all WFH
FFS
*bad accent*
Most of vork of agency, done in Moscow.
Does such a Take Make Sense?
Its location is handy for a straight run down the road to MI6 just over the Thames and Vauxhall Bridge. Was that a consideration re prime office satellite operation location?
Re: Does such a Take Make Sense?
If only optical fibres could go round corners
Simple solution, the difference in rent between the two sites should be made up from the spies bonus and pay awards, see how long they like that, just another bunch of top knob mandarins fleecing the public purse !
Arse end of Victoria
I once tried the new Shake Shack in the next door building. Felt queasy all afternoon from the shockingly high level of heart-stopping fats in the burger and the shake.
I think of Victoria street as a little bit of 60s Birmingham dropped into London. Beards or no, at least the food is better in Shoreditch. Mien Tay - Yum!
He also said "lessons will be learned", for what it's worth.
Pure reflex action.
Yes next time make sure that any statements like this are classified
It sounds as though the choice was made by Osborne rather than a spy. So maybe he should pay.
I can understand not wanting to work in Canary Wharf. Dire place. Dire people. Only the City is worse.
The original backstreet location seemed far more appropriate for spies really.
A posh new building smacks far too much of that riverside location Bond flew a speedboat out of.
If they made Osborne pay for all the things he ballsed up in office he’d really need all those jobs he got when he left politics.
They have Cyber in their name
So they can be anywhere. Off to the northern powerhouse with them!
Re: They have Cyber in their name
What northern powerhouse?
Re: They have Cyber in their name
Islington?
mandarin-friendly Victoria
'mandarin-friendly Victoria'
Just who are running GCHQ?