Housing provider commits to city with Aldermanbury House move

ANCHOR, England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing and care for older people, has agreed a deal to increase its presence in Bradford.

Led by multidisciplinary property consultancy GVA’s office and building consultancy teams, Anchor, which offers retirement properties and specialist care homes at more than 1,000 locations across the country, has taken 40,000 sq ft over three floors at Aldermanbury House, the former home of travel company Thomas Cook.

The move, which will see Anchor relocate from its current premises at Ambler Mill and Milestone Place in Bradford to Aldermanbury House, is a further boost for the West Yorkshire city following the acceleration of development work at the long-awaited Broadway shopping centre and a number of recent deals.

Anchor is set to move into Aldermanbury House by the end of the year after the space has been comprehensively refurbished in a £1.5m scheme, project managed and designed by GVA’s building consultancy team.

Matthew Tootell, director of office agency at the Yorkshire office of GVA, said: “Anchor is currently housed in two separate buildings in Bradford and this move to a landmark building will facilitate bringing both offices ‘under one roof’ in modern office accommodation which will offer its employees’ the benefit of being based more centrally in the city including proximity to transport links, shops and other city centre facilities.

“Bradford’s outlook is bright with a number of transactions having recently been completed or in the pipeline and we’re delighted to have helped Anchor both remain in the city and plan for growth.”

Nick Twigg, who leads GVA’s building consultancy team in Yorkshire, added: “After engaging GVA’s office team to source suitable premises in Bradford, Anchor has worked closely with our building consultancy team to ensure the new space will meet its requirements.

“It is testament to our multidisciplinary approach that we have been able to meet both Anchor’s objectives and those of its staff.”

Commenting on the move, Dominic Hayes, Anchor’s director of development and property, said the organisation wanted to remain a key local employer and contributor to Bradford’s economy so had looked at new premises across the city.

He said: “Anchor’s employees have worked in our two offices in Bradford for many years and the city still remains a great location for our main office in the north of England. Bradford provides us with some great people, offers good value for money with competitively priced rents and allows easy access to the main travel networks. We also have many care homes and retirement housing schemes in this part of Yorkshire so it made sense to increase our presence in the city.”

Richard Corby of ES Group, who acted on behalf of the landlord of the building, said: “The refurbishment of Aldermanbury House delivers excellent quality office space in the heart of Bradford city centre.

“With the letting to Anchor we have just two floors remaining of 14,000 sq ft each plus on-site car parking in the underground car park and we are keen to do competitive deals to see this building fully occupied.”