Canada Life among new tenants at city centre hub

Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) has secured a further two occupiers at its Bristol office scheme The Distillery following an increase in demand for high quality office space from global companies.

Global insurance and financial services firm, Canada Life has relocated to The Distillery from its previous city centre home taking over 13,000 sq ft across three floors at Building 1.

PAX8, a leading cloud technology marketplace, has also recently taken over 24,000 sq ft at The Distillery’s Building 2. It has witnessed huge growth in the past few years, allowing it to move out of serviced office space into a more permanent headquarters. PAX8 was represented by Morton Property Consultants.

The Distillery is a 93,000 sq ft scheme in two adjacent buildings, within a short walk of Temple Meads station.

It marks the second phase of four at RLAM’s Glassfields site in central Bristol. The first phase was the 4-star, 199-bed Leonardo Hotel which opened for business last year. Phases three and four will comprise two further office developments of c.120,000 sq ft and 65,000 sq ft respectively. RLAM is currently working up detailed plans for these developments for launch to the market in the new year.

Following these two latest deals, The Distillery is now close to 85% occupancy.

Will Hawking, senior asset manager at RLAM, said: “We have been delighted at how well The Distillery has been received in the Bristol market. This is proven with the variety of occupiers we have secured over the last year following completion. The building benefits from excellent sustainability credentials and highlights RLAM’s targets of developing solutions that enable clients and customers to invest in low carbon transition which has been a key reason for occupiers committing to the scheme. RLAM is looking to build on this success into the next stage of development through the creation of an outstanding environment with further office developments designed on the site to satisfy the requirements of the Bristol market.”

JLL represented Canada Life, while also jointly representing Royal London with Knight Frank on both transactions. PAX8 was represented by Morton Property Consultants.