One of the largest employers in Stoke Gifford is looking to let out space in its enormous office complex near Parkway Station as a consequence of a move towards permanent ‘flexible working’.
Insurance giant Aviva announced back in January that it was closing or merging some of its UK sites and intended to allow staff to continue working from home, beyond the pandemic.
The firm, which employs 16,000 people in the UK, said the plans would not lead to job cuts and people could still work from an office if they would rather.
“The way we use our office space is changing significantly. As our people continue to work in a new flexible way, we want our offices to inspire creativity and collaboration. Our intention is to invest in our sites to provide a more vibrant, inspiring and flexible workspace for our people,” Aviva said in a statement.
“We are combining office space in some locations and reducing the space in others. We are not leaving any town or city where we currently have a presence,” it added. “The next steps are to continue engaging with our people across these locations, working with them to build the best working environment to support their needs, the needs of the business and our customers.”
The Stoke Gifford site, known as Aviva Centre Bristol, was not specifically mentioned in the January announcement.
Later, at an analyst briefing in March, Aviva said it planned to cut up to 30 percent of its 1.7 million sq ft office space across the UK by the end of 2021.
The first indication that changes are potentially coming to the Stoke Gifford site came with the appearance of several ‘To let’ signs in early October. These advertise “modern office space with excellent parking; from 8,850 sq ft”. At around the same time, numerous permanent signs which previously displayed the name ‘Aviva Centre’ were altered to read ‘Lake View’, the new name under which the complex is being marketed.
A recently published brochure for Lake View has the tagline “Modern office space in a parkland setting near Parkway train station” and offers office suites ranging in size “from 8,850 to 88,000 sq ft”.
Facilities listed as being available to tenants include a fully equipped gym, a squash court, a fully equipped sports hall, “stunning” grounds and surroundings, eco climate control and electric car charging points.
A floor plan of a “typical upper floor” shows three modules available for rent, occupying around half the total space available on the floor, configured as three separate modules ranging in size from 8,857 to 10,774 sq ft.
A spokesperson for Aviva told the Journal:
“We have surplus space in our Bristol office which we are now looking to let out to other companies. We rebranded the office to Lake View to support marketing the building. Aviva still has a significant presence in the building along with our outsource partners who support Aviva customers on our behalf.”
The spokesperson declined to state the percentage of the total floor space in the building that is being offered for let. Similarly, the percentage of Aviva and outsourced staff that are currently working wholly or partly from home could not be disclosed.
More information and related links:
- Lake View website
- Lake View brochure (archived on Dropbox) [PDF; 2.15MB]
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2021 issue of the Stoke Gifford Journal magazine (on pages 4 & 5). The magazine is delivered FREE, nine times a year, to over 5,000 homes in Stoke Gifford, Little Stoke and Harry Stoke. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.
