Licensed to thrill…£15m Moneypenny HQ complete
TELEPHONE answering specialist Moneypenny has moved into its new £15m headquarters – complete with a tree house meeting room, village pub and a sun terrace.
The development on the Western Gateway site in Wrexham is designed to be the “happiest workplace in the UK”.
The building can accommodate up to 1,000 staff, supporting the company’s plans to create an additional 500 jobs over the next few years and double its client base by 2018.
Ed Reeves, co-founder and director of Moneypenny, masterminded the project.
He said: “What we believe is simple: the happier our staff, the happier our clients. So when we outgrew our previous offices and made the decision to build a new headquarters, we asked ourselves how we can make sure our receptionists are the happiest in the UK?
“The answer was easy – ask them, so that’s what we did. Through a series of focus groups we collated their ideas, suggestions and thoughts and used these to form the basis of the blueprint for the design.”
Building work on the project by Pochin’s was finished on time and on budget, with the move from its offices on Wrexham Technology Park taking place over the summer.
Inside, the striking 91,000sq ft building – which rivals the likes of Google and Apple’s headquarters – boasts a treehouse meeting room, its own village pub, a sun terrace and a triple height atrium with stadium seating and a restaurant offering free breakfast and fruit.
Outside the development is equally impressive and surrounded by seven acres of landscaped grounds with nature trails, a duck pond and orchards with picturesque countryside views.
Remarkably, the entire development – designed by award-winning Manchester-based architects AEW – cost the same price as a standard brick ‘box’ office too.
Reeves added: “We provided our architects, AEW, with the same budget we’d been quoted to build a standard office and said ‘right, show us how we can create something amazing’.
“It was a challenge, but we ripped up the rulebook and that’s exactly what they did. Our new headquarters will deliver serious benefits for both ourselves and our clients, and we’ve already heard from a number of companies who want to use it as a model for their own developments.”
Moneypenny’s HQ will also be one of the most acoustically innovative buildings in the country. Using a combination of bespoke sound absorption and elimination technology, sound engineers have created the perfect call handling environment.
Phil Hepworth, associate at AEW Architects, said: “This really has been a dream commission for AEW Architects and a real honour to work with such an exciting, forward thinking company such as Moneypenny.”
Jim Nicholson, chief executive of Pochin’s added: “Since our very first projects in the 1930s, North Wales has always played an important part in Pochin’s history. With this new campus Moneypenny is continuing to drive the growth in the region’s economy and we’re proud to be able to support them in doing so.”
Moneypenny worked with a number of North West-based companies on the build, including Avid Property Consultants, Todd & Ledson, Cundall, CW Studio, CMS Danskin and JDM Joinery.
