Ipswich Central excited to see new town centre office owner

Brooke Lawrance House, in Civic Drive, has been put on the market seeking offers in excess of £15million.

The 146,526 sq ft property houses businesses like AXA Insurance and more than 500 staff working for HM Revenue and Customs.

Terry Baxter, the chair of Business Improvement District Ipswich Central, believes a sale of the property may attract more new businesses to the Suffolk town.

He said: "This building is a major site in a central location in the town and is a great opportunity for any large business owner who may be looking to move their office into the town."

Terry Baxter said that this is a great opportunity for new businesses to move into Ipswich (Image: Ipswich Central)

The building itself has been significant to Ipswich and is named after a local girl with cerebral palsy.

Inside the main building there are nine floors, which are made up of offices, an on-site café, a shower block and an Amazon drop facility.

Its surrounding areas are also seeing further development with the Portman Road Redevelopment Project in the pipeline.

The project, first introduced in 2006, is a master plan to build an aquatic centre, hotel and multi-storey car park which would neighbour the Portman Road stadium, home of Ipswich Town FC.

AXA have said that they will sign a 10-year minimum lease with the future owners (Image: Charlotte Bond)

The stadium stands within a short walking distance of Brooke Lawrance House, which is why Mr Baxter believes that a sale of the office block would be a prime investment for businesses to make. 

He added: "With its close proximity to the train station to London, many insurance and law firms now choose this part of Ipswich as their main office base, and with investment planned on Portman Road nearby for a new aquatics centre, we look forward to seeing who buys this building and their plans for bringing it back into use.”