Lloyds Bank to sell Bristol office
LLOYDS Bank has announced plans to sell off its landmark Bristol office and move thousands of employees into a secondary building it owns in the city.
The bank, which currently employs 2,350 people at Canons House in the city centre, told staff yesterday that they would be transferred to its neighbouring Harbourside site, overlooking the floating harbour, in the second quarter of 2022.
It did not state whether any jobs would be impacted by the move.
Lloyds has owned the prominent curved Canons House property since it was built in 1990.
Its development was one of the major regeneration projects that heralded the renaissance of Bristol’s harbourside.
It is understood the bank is hoping to discuss the sale of the property with Bristol City Council to see if there are occupiers, developers or investors who may be interested in investing in the redevelopment of the site.
The glass-fronted Harbourside property will undergo a refurbishment before staff are moved.
It is understood that Lloyds’ Canons House and Harbourside buildings have been underutilised for a number of years and that the decision follows a review of the company’s property portfolio.
Jeremy Hayward, group ambassador for the South West at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Today we have announced plans to bring our
Bristol-based teams together in one location.
“We will be investing in the area by renovating our Harbourside office, where all our people will work from in future, and will be putting our Canons House office up for sale.”
Lloyds announced in its strategy update earlier in 2021 that it was considering reducing the number of its offices around the UK, and was looking at a hybrid-working plan for staff.
It is understood that Lloyds expects around 80% of its employees to have a hybrid workstyle following the pandemic.
The news comes as Lloyds Banking Group forges ahead with plans to close a number of its branches around the UK.
In June, the group said 44 of its Lloyds Bank and Halifax branches would shut, with no compulsory redundancies.
Once the closures are complete, the group will have 779 Lloyds Bank branches, 560 Halifax branches, alongside 184 Bank of Scotland branches.