Zurich relocates to new flagship Glasgow office

The new space, which property consultants JLL has identified and helped to fit-out as part of a £1.3 million makeover, was opened earlier this year by First Minster Nicola Sturgeon.

JLL was appointed by Zurich to find a suitable space to consolidate its Glasgow staff in anticipation of a lease expiry at the Eagle Building.

St Vincent Plaza was selected as the preferred property for relocation after a comprehensive search.

The insurer relocated to the 7th Floor of the St Vincent Plaza office development in the heart of Glasgow’s business district earlier this year, taking a ten year lease on the space.

The new space was officially opened in July after a £1.3m makeover to create a state-of-the-art workspace. JLL provided project management and technical expertise for the office fit-out.

Gordon Rogerson, director, Building Consultancy at JLL, said: “We’re really pleased to see Zurich in its new Glasgow accommodation which we helped select based on specific criteria. Zurich’s expansion in the city is further testament to the strength of Glasgow’s office occupier market.”

The city’s commercial property market continued its impressive start to 2018, with levels of office occupier take-up hitting a ten year high.

In the market’s busiest six months for a decade, total take-up across Glasgow’s city centre reached 326,313 sq ft between April and June, spread across 32 deals, representing an increase of 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Other occupants at St Vincent Plaza include KPMG, Whyte and Mackay, Scottish Ministers, Mott Macdonald and Wood Group.

The building has been designed to maximise efficiency and to minimise running costs achieving both a Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘Excellent’ rating as well as an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ‘A’ rating.