Ecclesiastical in Gloucester office move

Ecclesiastical has moved its Gloucester office to Gloucester Docks from Brunswick Road.

The announcement comes after headline contractual terms for the move were agreed between the insurer and the South West Regional Development Agency last week.

The next stage of the insurer’s office relocation plan will now be to draft and sign the formal contract.

Detailed plans will then be developed for Ecclesiastical’s existing office buildings and decisions made about their future after the insurer’s move.

Graham Johnson, transformation director at Ecclesiastical, said: “We are very excited about reaching this big milestone and hope it sends a clear message to the City that we are committed to Gloucester for the long-term. “We have a very clear vision for our new office. It will bring all our people together in a modern environment and will strengthen motivation and morale. This will improve the way we work and strengthen our culture even further.

“The project will take a while to complete because we want to make sure we leave our current offices behind responsibly and we want to ensure the new building is sympathetic to its surroundings, environmentally friendly and fits well with all the fantastic development work already completed or underway in the City. Getting this agreement signed is a big step forward for us, but there is still a long way to go.”

Peter Holloway, development manager at the South West RDA, said: “This move has been on the cards for some time and it’s fantastic to have got the deal to this point. Not only does this secure the future of a major employer in Gloucester, but the new office building will complete one of the remaining plots at the Docks – an area which we have worked hard to regenerate over the last 10 years. There is a real buzz around the Docks now and this is set to get even better when the public spaces are completed later this year and once Ecclesiastical moves in.”

Chris Oldershaw, chief executive of the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company, added: “We are very pleased that Gloucester’s biggest employer has committed to develop its new headquarters in the City. This is an expression of commercial belief in Gloucester and a massive boost for the City’s on-going regeneration signalling a confidence in the City which is not going un-noticed across both the South West and nationally.”