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Gloucestershire Business News

Insurance group expands into landmark office centre

A Gloucestershire-based insurance group has taken over the ground floor of an office complex as it expands its operation.

Ecclesiastical Insurance, the specialist insurance and financial services company, has agreed a lease for the 7,900 sq ft ground floor of Southgate House in Southgate Street, Gloucester.

The deal means that Southgate House, which overlooks Gloucester Docks, is now fully let for the first time in eight years. Ecclesiastical is one of Gloucester's biggest employers with more than 500 staff and has its headquarters at Beaufort House in Brunswick Road, Gloucester.

The company will be basing 60 members of staff at Southgate House to accommodate a project team it plans to grow over the coming months.

Celebrating its 130th anniversary, Ecclesiastical is the only financial services group with a purely charitable purpose. The UK's fourth largest corporate donor, in 2017-18 it gave over 30 per cent of its profits to deserving causes, directly and via its charitable owner, Allchurches Trust.

Ecclesiastical specialises in church, heritage, education, charity and high net worth insurance.

Its 60-strong team at Southgate House will be joining existing tenants such as Thistle Insurance, Pro-Insurance Solutions, Fig Offices and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

The building has recently been refurbished to provide superior open plan offices with air conditioning. Southgate House also offers a manned reception and communal areas, as well as secure car parking, CCTV, shower facilities and communal gardens.

Southgate House was originally built in the 1990s for the Bank of England who no longer occupy the site. It is opposite Southgate Moorings where Ecclesiastical had originally planned to site a new dockside headquarters but this scheme was dropped a few years ago.

David Thwaites, senior asset manager at FI Real Estate Management, said: "We're very happy to welcome Ecclesiastical Insurance to Southgate House, where they will join a range of businesses that are at the forefront of Gloucester's thriving business community.

"Southgate House reaching full capacity for first time in nearly a decade is testament both to the amenities and location it offers, and also to the health of businesses in Gloucester and their capacity for expansion - long may that continue."

The joint letting agents for Southgate House are Bruton Knowles and Cushman & Wakefield.

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