New heigths for Simplyhealth
(Press release Stoford:) Bristol, 30 April 2013 - Midland property specialists Stoford celebrated reaching the highest point of a 62,275 sq ft office building for Simplyhealth with a ‘topping out’ ceremony on site in Clifton, Bristol. Des Benjamin, Chief Executive Officer of the national healthcare provider, laid a number of bricks on the sixth floor of the stunning Simplyhealth House headquarters which is scheduled for completion in November.
Stoford is developing the scheme on a Gateway site for Bristol, in a beautiful conservation area overlooking The Historic Downs on Whiteladies Road. The new office is being built by BAM Construction and following careful design, the ground floor slab and basement car parking have been retained from the former structure and much of the demolition materials have been recycled.
David Brown, Director of Stoford, said the high quality BREEAM Excellent scheme would be a statement building, light and airy and with a clear, open plan working environment for Simplyhealth’s 330 employees. ‘We are delighted to have been working with Simplyhealth and reached this important stage in construction of such a landmark scheme. It will feature the highest standards of sustainability and external materials including a natural Bath stone and handmade bricks that will ensure it is in keeping with the area’, he added.
Mark Day, Simplyhealth spokesperson, commented: ‘We are very excited about this development as Clifton is a beautiful conservation area with good public transport links from the city centre, offering our employees a pleasant and desirable location in which to work. Victoria Street in Bristol has been our home for 17 years but after reaching capacity we needed to seek out a more long term solution. Our new building will enable us to expand with the needs of the business allowing us to continue to offer excellent personal customer service to our private medical insurance customers. We envisage we’ll be able to start to move our employees in shortly after completion.’
Simplyhealth House is Stoford’s second major development in the South West following the completion of a £20 million regional distribution centre for Co-operative Food in Avonmouth.
Image caption: Simplyhealth Chief Executive Officer Des Benjamin (foreground) lays a brick at Simplyhealth new headquarters building. He is joined by (from the left) Edward Gurhy, project manager Simplyhealth, Steve Tapson, director BAM Construction, and David Brown, Director of Stoford Developments.