Insurance firm’s office move will create jobs in Yorkshire
INSURANCE, pensions and investment group LV= is set to create up to 75 jobs in Yorkshire following its decision to open offices in a mill development.
Folly Hall Mills in Huddersfield will also become the home to LV=’s road rescue company Britannia Rescue in July and LV= will open a new 24-hour call centre in the office to deal with both calls from LV= car insurance customers and Britannia Rescue breakdown calls.
The 24-hour service will also be expanded to LV= home insurance customers during 2010 and the Folly Hall office is set to become the company’s primary 24-hour call centre.
LV= was previously called Liverpool Victoria and was founded in 1843.
Simon Stevens, general manager of LV=’s Huddersfield operation, said: “We are delighted to be expanding in Huddersfield and providing new jobs in the area. When many other financial companies are making redundancies we are actually expanding.”
LV= will join Huddersfield companies ESTL and Above & Beyond at Folly Hall Mills when it takes more than 13,000 sq ft of office space at the £8m development on the banks of the River Colne.
Huddersfield-based developer the Jay Tee Group has converted the historic 19th century grade two-listed former woollen mill, which had been derelict for 27 years, into 60,000 sq ft of prime office space.
The development, which will soon boast its own café bar – Café 1844 – is now 80% full, with only 13,000 sq ft of office space still available to lease.
Paul Bailey, project director at the Jay Tee Group said: “Folly Hall has involved significant regeneration of the riverside area, creating new employment opportunities and raising the profile of Huddersfield as a major office destination in the region.
“The fact that a national insurance company of LV=’s stature is coming here is a fantastic endorsement of our scheme.”
The joint agents for the scheme are Eddisons and Michael Steel and Co. Alec Michael, partner at Michael Steel, said: “There are a number of prestigious schemes being proposed for central Huddersfield, but Folly Hall is the first to deliver the high-quality accommodation, so full of character, that is preferred by many modern businesses and organisations.”
Folly Hall, which was originally built in 1844 and operated until 1982, was renowned internationally for the quality of its worsted and made suits for world famous politicians such as Jimmy Carter and Jim Callaghan.
Mr. Bailey added: “The mill was a centre of excellence in the 19th and 20th centuries and we are delighted that it is becoming a centre of excellence again.”
