Sainsbury’s is to move around 150 roles at its head office in London to Coventry and Manchester as the UK retailer looks to lease space at its HQ in the capital.

A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s confirmed the move to just-food today (18 April) and said the move was a result of internal changes.

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“The colleagues are being asked to move because we’ve taken a good look at what they do and the teams that they work with and we believe that they could do their roles in these offices. We’ve got a fantastic new building in Coventry with great space.”

The spokesperson said Sainsbury’s was not looking to “imminently” leave its headquarters in Holborn.

“This move just frees up some space so we’re letting out a couple of floors. We’re not moving at all.”

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In a prepared statement, the retailer said: “With our strong heritage in London we are still considering a range of options for our Holborn store support centre and intend to retain a base in central London.”

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The UK supermarket group was reported back in 2007 to be looking to relocate its central London headquarters from Holborn to a site in King’s Cross. In 2011, however, the grocer abandoned plans to move after being unable to dispose of its current Holborn site.

In a separate announcement today, the retailer confirmed plans to close its final-salary pension scheme.

The spokesperson said Sainsbury’s was starting a two-month consultation and proposed changes to the scheme.

“The proposed changes will ensure that pension arrangements for all of our colleagues are fair and sustainable for the future,” the spokesperson said.

“The proposals involve the closure of the defined benefit pension scheme, which has been closed to new starters since 2002. All pension benefits that our current and former colleagues have built up in this scheme will be protected, and we will be working closely with those affected to explain the proposed transition to our defined contribution arrangements, in which 81,000 of our colleagues are already saving for their retirement.”