Bruntwood SciTech has leased 37,000 sq ft to insurance and insurtech firm QBE at its West Village innovation hub in Leeds.
The Australian-headquartered business is relocating its 300-strong workforce into three floors at West Village, which is currently the subject of a £20m redevelopment by Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Manchester Pension Fund.
The 230,000 sq ft scheme will offer co-working, serviced and leased space for start-ups and large businesses, alongside a premium wellness studio space operated in partnership with training brand FORM called ‘RESET Leeds’.
Andrew Cooke, regional director – Leeds, at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “QBE is one of the world’s leading insurers, so the business’ decision to choose West Village as its hub for technological development is a key deal for the region. It also reaffirms West Village as a hub for innovative and evolving businesses and it’s exciting to see that we are continuing to succeed in our mission to grow a cluster of high-growth and forward-thinking organisations that will benefit from collaboration and knowledge-sharing with other like-minded firms. We’re looking forward to welcoming QBE to the West Village community and to continue growing our network of innovative, sector leading businesses ahead of its opening later this year.”
Nathan Fuller, chief operations officer at QBE Europe, added: “QBE has had a presence in Leeds for over 20 years and our expansion in recent times has been about leveraging the strong local talent base to support us in our technological development, including the establishment of our robotics centre of excellence almost three years ago. Moving to West Village is the next chapter in our story with the city, and we are excited to be moving our people to such a prestigious location that is in tune with our commitment to sustainability, modernisation ambitions and focus on employee wellbeing.”
Charles Parkinson, associate director in CBRE’s occupier services team, which acted for QBE on the deal, said: “It has been great working on this move with QBE over the past 12 months and sees another occupier relocate to a best-in-class building in the city centre, highlighting the business’ goals of finding more sustainable, amenity-rich buildings. The central location and good transport links, combined with its green credentials, were a real draw for QBE.”
