The water company is relocating its existing Swindon contact centre from Walnut Court at Kembrey Park into around 35,000 sq ft of office space across two floors of 1 Newbridge Square, close to Swindon railway station.
It represents a significant commitment to Swindon town centre by one of Britain’s largest utility companies and could bring hundreds of workers into the centre each day.
But exactly how significant the move will prove for local employment remains unclear. Swindon24 understands there has been speculation within Swindon Borough Council that around 450 new jobs could ultimately be created in connection with the Newbridge Square operation.
Thames Water has not announced that figure and Swindon24 has been unable to independently verify it.
Thames Water already had a significant workforce at Walnut Court, meaning some of those arriving at Newbridge Square will simply be existing employees moving from Kembrey Park.
If hundreds of additional positions are being created or transferred into Swindon from elsewhere, however, the economic significance of the move would be considerably greater. What is clear is the scale of Thames Water’s new base.
Recent recruitment also shows Swindon continuing to play a significant role in Thames Water’s customer operations, including work involving complaints, collections and recoveries.
The move potentially provides another boost to efforts to increase the number of people working in central Swindon. Workers based at Newbridge Square are within walking distance of the town centre’s shops, cafés and restaurants, while the location immediately beside the railway station gives Thames Water considerably better public transport connections than its existing Kembrey Park operation.
It also represents another substantial commitment to Newbridge Square as the area around Swindon station continues to attract major employers. For Thames Water, however, the opening comes during an extraordinary period in the company’s history.
The utility serves around 16 million customers but has accumulated debts approaching £20 billion and has been attempting to secure a financial restructuring capable of keeping it out of the Government’s Special Administration Regime.
Its environmental performance has also attracted sustained criticism. Ofwat imposed penalties totalling £122.7 million on Thames Water in 2025 following investigations into its wastewater operations and dividend payments.
The company has argued that it is increasing investment and improving its environmental performance, reporting reductions in pollution incidents during 2025.
But sewage remains an issue around Swindon itself. Campaign organisation Top of the Poops, which analyses published storm overflow information, reports that Thames Water sites within the Swindon North constituency recorded 143 sewage discharges during 2025, totalling 2,463 hours.
Thames Water has acknowledged that improvements are planned at Swindon sewage treatment works at Rodbourne, including work intended to improve the site’s ability to treat incoming flows and increase capacity within its sludge treatment system.
The argument about Thames Water’s future has also reached Swindon politics. Swindon North MP Will Stone has publicly backed bringing Thames Water into public ownership, citing concerns around infrastructure, sewage pollution and problems experienced by customers.
He said:
“The constituents I represent are already paying for the mistakes and missteps of Thames Water of the past… I find the proposal of avoiding fines… to be misguided.”
That creates an unusual backdrop to the company’s increased physical presence in Swindon.
While Thames Water commits to tens of thousands of square feet of new office space in the town, one of Swindon’s MPs is questioning whether the company should continue under its current ownership model at all.
At the same time, negotiations over Thames Water’s enormous debt burden mean questions about the company’s long-term structure remain unresolved.
For Swindon, however, one of the most immediate questions is much simpler: how many jobs does Newbridge Square actually mean? Swindon24 had hoped to speak to Thames Water representatives at the office opening about the scale of its investment and employment plans at the opening, but was refused access.
What is already established is that Thames Water is making a substantial move into Swindon town centre. For a centre that has spent years trying to attract investment, employers and footfall, that is potentially very good news. The unanswered question is just how big that good news might turn out to be.
