Securitas UK will shut its Gloucester office at the end of March with staff all moving to full-time home working.

The security firm said its site at 76 Kingsholm Road has been "underutilised" since the Covid-19 pandemic.

No redundancies are planned and it has assured customers there will still be local "field staff" available to support them.

Parent company Securitas AB is based in Stockholm, Sweden and has more than 300,000 employees in 53 countries worldwide.

The UK arm began leasing the 8,0000 sqft office space in Gloucester in 2019 when it bought out previous occupants and fellow security firm Allcooper Group.

A spokesperson for Securitas Technology said: "This decision was reached following a sustained period of monitoring and review, to ascertain the current and projected office usage, post COVID-19.

"With this analysis showing that the space would continue to be underutilised, and staff employed in the area already predominantly working from home or able to do so, the decision was taken to move out of the property.

"The assessment was made with customer impact always in mind and assurance that there will continue to be locally based, field staff and existing channels of communication and support, available to clients in Gloucester and the surrounding areas as usual."

The Allcooper brand was founded by father and son Gary and Gerrard Cooper in 1987 and Roman Cooper was the first apprentice taken on by his dad and brother.

It was bought out by Securitas five years ago with around 100 staff transferring over to the new company.

The Cooper family firm still owns the Kingsholm Road site which it bought years ago as a semi derelict car sales site and transformed into the HQ for Allcooper Security and Fire.

Roman Cooper is now property director at Allcooper Property Ltd which is looking for a new tenant for the building after Securitas decided to end its lease. Other tenants on the site are to remain.

The space being vacated encompasses a large office area, conference and meeting rooms, break out space, storage space, access to a south facing garden and parking.

Allcooper Property Ltd has applied to Gloucester City Council to have a planning condition removed to allow wider uses on the western part of site.

Mr Cooper said: "We are exploring some exciting opportunities currently and are hoping to have the space let sooner rather than later."

"We have applied for a small change in planning to give us the best chance of finding a new long term tenant for this great site in the heart of Gloucester."