BUPA, a health and wellbeing insurance group has begun a search to find a new location for its 140,000 sq ft of office space, which is currently located in Salford Quays.
It is understood that BUPA hopes to relocate the new premises at the end of 2015, when the current lease expires. Speaking of the move, Roger White, Director of BUPA Group, expressed: “Bupa has had a presence in Greater Manchester for over 20 years. The area has proved a first-class location for us and we are committed to maintaining and growing our operations here. With the majority of our current lease arrangements in Salford expiring in 2015, we are looking at a range of options to provide the best work environment for our employees.”
BUPA has appointed agents: Capital Symonds, DTZ and P3 Property Consultants to advise them on appropriate office space.
BUPA’s headquarters is based in London, and they recently moved to a new office space in Staines, West London, which went smoothly. The company hopes the Salford move would also be hassle-free when they move in 2012.
The news comes as other large companies consider relocating their offices. Aviva, currently based in Manchester are thought to be in talks to renegotiate their long lease and could consider other locations. Jacobs Engineering is also considering moving to a new office space. So what is making companies want the additional stress of moving to new office space?
According to David Knowles, the Business Development Director at Creditsafe, believes that: “Many multi-year leases agreements were negotiated when the market was buoyant and many firms now find themselves tied into tenancy agreements that they simply cannot afford. It is immensely difficult to forecast for years into the future and some firms are tied into leases lasting over a decade.”
So it seems many large companies signed up to long leases in the past. But as the economy continues to struggle, many firms are today trying to negotiate their leases or finding cheaper alternatives to try and avoid getting themselves into financial difficulty, in terms of rent arrears.
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