SMRT Corporation will move its headquarters from North Bridge Road to Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) next year, under a strategy to centralise corporate departments now located across the island, The Business Times understands.

This move will happen at around the same time as the transport group sets up two Train Hubs. One hub will focus on train operations and be based at the Kim Chuan Depot; the other will focus on maintenance and engineering (M&E) and be based at the Bishan Depot.

Centralising SMRT's corporate departments in the Paya Lebar suburb will thus enable tighter integration with these two hubs.

The Kim Chuan Depot, which sits between the Bartley and Tai Seng MRT stations on the Circle Line, is only a 10-minute train ride from PLQ, while the Bishan Depot is six MRT train stations or half an hour from PLQ.

SMRT will take up three levels in one of the mixed development's three office towers.

PLQ is located next to Paya Lebar MRT station, which sits on the East-West Line and Circle Line - both operated by SMRT, noted SMRT chairman Seah Moon Ming.

"We want to be well connected to the two Train Hubs for more efficient work flow between Corporate and Trains. The tighter integration of space, facilities and amenities will energise staff, driving a more innovative and dynamic workforce.

"Overall, it will also be much more cost effective."

The company, taken private by Temasek Holdings in 2016, has had massive breakdowns, serious safety breaches and questionable work culture. Incidents in recent months have included a tunnel flooding that was traced to wilful negligence by the maintenance team.

SMRT's current headquarters, located next to CHIJMES and opposite the Raffles City complex, are in premises leased from the Land Transport Authority. The lease is expected to expire by the time SMRT moves to its new headquarters at PLQ.

All of SMRT's offices in the North Bridge Road premises - including those of its top brass, as well as finance, corporate services and corporate communications functions, along with SMRT Commercial - will move to PLQ .

Also slated to move there from the Bishan Depot are the non-M&E functions. These include the SMRT Trains headquarters, SMRT Services, SMRT International, internal audit, infocomm and organisation excellence, and procurement and supplies.

The space that SMRT is leasing at PLQ is expected to accommodate about 800 employees across various corporate units.

CBRE is understood to have brought in SMRT as a tenant at PLQ. It declined to comment on the deal.

The property consulting group is the joint marketing agent, along with JLL, for the office space in the development. The office component, expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year, comprises close to a million square feet of Grade A-specification space.

At the topping-out ceremony for the first office tower structure last month, Lendlease announced that more than half the development's office space has been either leased, or is under final offer or in advanced negotiations. It declined to elaborate.

PLQ will also house a standalone mall with 340,000 sq ft of retail space and 429 residential units.

SMRT's Kim Chuan Depot, to be designated as the group's Train Operations Hub, now houses the operations control centre (OCC) for the Circle Line.

The OCC for the North-South and East-West Lines (NSEWL), now at the North Bridge Road headquarters, and the NSEWL maintenance operations centre at Bishan Depot, will move to Kim Chuan Depot next year.

Establishing the Train Operations Hub is understood to be aimed at improving synergies and coordination across various operations centres.

Under SMRT's plans to improve rail reliability and support the many upcoming rail renewal projects, its rail engineers and technical officers are being upskilled. It also plans to recruit another 400 rail professionals at the Bishan Depot. This is why non-M&E functions at this depot will move to PLQ.