(Bloomberg) -- Palantir Technologies is planning to set up a second UK base, likely in Leeds or Manchester, near the National Health Service’s digital headquarters to help it serve customers in the north of England.

The American data analytics company plans local hires and to move some staff from its London office to a new outpost, it said in response to a Bloomberg News query.  

Palantir significantly grew its UK business during the pandemic, particularly by deepening its relationship with the NHS. It now has about 900 employees in London, spokesman Ben Mascall said by email. 

“We are actively looking at expanding outside of the capital both because of the growing amount of work we are doing across the country and so we can access the best British talent,” Mascall said, adding no final decision on the location has been made.  

Having an office in the north would bring Palantir physically closer to the Leeds headquarters of NHS Digital and NHS England’s national team as the firm vies for a £360 million ($404 million) contract to build a data platform for the health service.

Mascall said that the new office could also support work funded by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in the region. Last week, the department disclosed it awarded Palantir a £4.5 million contract to continue work it had been doing for free since April, providing a case management system to help allocate housing and resources to Ukrainian refugees. 

The company has hired British politician John Woodcock, also known as Lord Walney, as a consultant to help identify a location.

Woodcock, a former Labour MP, told a conference last month that Palantir was looking at Manchester and Leeds, according to a transcript of the event. 

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