Holiday letting firm unveils plans for new office to fuel expansion
Sapphire Holidays, the Cornwall-based group of self-catering holiday letting agencies, has announced a £2m investment in new offices in Hayle to support its expansion.
The family-owned group, which includes Aspects Holidays, Boutique Retreats, Classic Cottages, and Unique Hideaways, employs over 185 people and manages around 2,650 holiday properties across the UK.
The investment involves transforming the former Orion Precision Castings building, a former engineering forge and later a tree surgery business, into a new office space.
Now stripped to its original steelwork and concrete, it will mainly serve staff from Classic Cottages and Boutique Retreats.
The project features six boreholes for ground source heating and a 132-panel solar array expected to generate around 54,000 kWh of electricity annually, enough for 20 average UK households.
It will power the building and charge a bank of batteries for eight new electric car charging bays and surplus energy will be sold back to the National Grid.
The exterior will include a wildflower meadow to support local biodiversity, with plans to retain existing trees and allow for further planting.
Inside, the office will feature a 543 sq m ground floor and a 357 sq m mezzanine level, accommodating 64 workstations.
The building is designed by Truro-based KAST Architects, who also designed the nearby Sapphire House.
Simon Tregoning, owner and chairman of Sapphire Holidays, said: “With this repurposed building we’ll be able to consolidate all our teams on one site and cater for the future growth of the business. We wanted to reuse an existing unit because sustainability is very important to us, so it’s been designed to rigorous energy efficiency standards.”
