Insider Media Limited

Contact centre HEROtsc has confirmed it will take over the former Egg headquarters in Derby, creating up to 700 jobs. John Forkin, chief executive of Marketing Derby, told Insider the long-rumoured Pride Park deal was the start of "a new wave of investments" to be made across the city in 2012.

HEROtsc will open the latest site in its UK network in Pride Park and said it hopes to recruit about 700 staff over the next six months.

David Turner, HEROtsc's chief executive, said: "I am delighted to say that we are in a position to offer employment opportunities at a variety of levels to the Derby workforce.

"We start the recruitment drive immediately with the intention of having the centre fully operational by early next year."

Turner confirmed that HEROtsc would be running the Derby operation on behalf of its client Sky.

The announcement is a boost for the city after a year in which both credit card company Egg and trainmaker Bombardier revealed they would make heavy job cuts across the city.

Egg's previous owner Citigroup sold the business in two chunks over the summer; Barclaycard snapped up the business's credit card assets while Yorkshire Bank swooped for its savings division.

Barclaycard soon announced it would axe more than 650 jobs at the Derby base, saying it planned to service Egg clients from alternative customer service centres.

Speaking about the news that HEROtsc would be investing in the city, Forkin told Insider: "This is Derby’s biggest inward investment since Toyota and we are delighted to have attracted a quality partnership in HEROtsc and Sky.

"Derby has had a tough 2011 but this, plus recent announcements by Gardner Aerospace, Toyota and Network Rail, accounts for over 3,000 new jobs. The past few years has seen a new level of ambition and the city really get its act together. Next year will see a new wave of investments right across the city centre that will further enhance Derby’s reputation."

HEROtsc began as Telecom Service Centres in the Scottish island of Bute in 1994 with seven employees. It now employs more than 400 staff across eight UK sites, with Derby being the ninth.

In 2007 the company was acquired by the India based HERO Group and the UK outsource business was renamed HEROtsc. Its Falkirk-based management looks after the UK site network and runs an Indian-based contact centre in Gurgaon.

Adam Wilkinson, chief executive of Derby City Council, said: "This shows the benefit of the Council’s open approach to business underpinned by our highly innovative £10m Regeneration Investment Fund.

"My staff have been focussed from the start on winning this opportunity against competition from much bigger cities. This is another winner for Derby."