An East Anglian housebuilder has expressed delight at the unveiling of a new £40m ‘luxury hotel-standard’ headquarters near Stansted airport.
Weston Group’s chairman and managing director Bob Weston said it provided a “benchmark for quality” and ensured the company had the “very best working environment” in the industry.
The new HQ – named the Weston Innovation Centre – includes grade A office space and a host of lifestyle facilities including a grand “hotel-style” entrance, brasserie restaurant, bar/lounge, multi-storey atrium with designer staircase and a gymnasium with luxury changing rooms and marble washbasins.
It was “arguably the most luxurious housebuilder HQ in Britain”, the company said.
MORE – Suffolk Show 2021 is cancelled because of coronavirus uncertainty“Weston Group are delighted to be officially opening the Weston Innovation Centre for our staff and visitors,” said Mr Weston.
“The new state-of-the-art HQ building sets a benchmark for quality in terms of headquarter buildings and provides office space, amenities and leisure facilities to help ensure we deliver the very best working environment within the housebuilding industry.”
The headquarters complex now comprises a new £20m 49,000sq ft addition to the existing £20m business park known as the Stansted Business Hub.
Weston Group said it decided to create “an outstanding new headquarters building which would exceed staff expectations and deliver a really enjoyable and exhilarating place for work, downtime and productivity”.
“The Weston Innovation Centre is the result of this forward-looking approach to attracting employees of the highest calibre and retaining and growing them within the Weston Group business,” it added.
Weston Group financed the work from the HSBC Green Loan scheme which supports sustainable projects and the building has a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating of “very good”.
The basement parking facility includes charging for electric cars and company says it is committed to meeting government targets to shift the group’s car fleet to electric cars, starting with group board directors’ vehicles which are being switched over to electric vehicles within the next two months.
Weston Group says it has sold the Weston Innovation Centre building to Uttlesford District Council then leased the building back from the council, providing the local authority with a long term investment asset.
The Weston Innovation Centre was formally opened at a socially distanced VIP event on September 24.
Part of the top floor of the building, bordered by floor to ceiling glass windows, will act as a corporate suite for entertaining VIP guests and includes a model room filled with scale-models of the group’s various developments.
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