Iconic building on Bristol Harbourside to be sold
It begs the question, will the Lloyds Amphitheatre have to be renamed?
An iconic building on Bristol's Harbourside is going to be sold meaning thousands of staff who work inside will have to move.
Lloyds Banking Group have announced they are going to move out of Canons House by the Lloyds Amphitheatre next year, as part of their new hybrid working plan sparked by the pandemic.
More than 2,000 people currently work in the building; they will be moved to another site on the Harbourside next door.
Jeremy Hayward, Group Ambassador for the South West, Lloyds Banking Group, said: “Yesterday we announced plans to bring our Bristol-based teams together in one location next year.
"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.”
The bank says it is consolidating its offices nationwide so that it has "fewer, better buildings".
"Our Canons House and Harbourside buildings have been underutilised for a number of years, with occupancy of around 66% before the pandemic," a statement sent to us reads.
"By having our colleagues based in one large site in the city, rather than two underoccupied large buildings, which require heating and lighting, we will significantly reduce our environmental impact in the city of Bristol.
"As we emerge from the pandemic, we expect around 80% of our people will have a hybrid workstyle.
"As a result, there is space to accommodate all our people in our Harbourside building, which will be refurbished."
Lloyds have owned Canons House since it was built in 1990.
The amphitheatre will not be included in the sale as this was gifted to the city council some time ago, but the news does beg the question in our minds, will it have to be renamed?
"We would like to discuss the sale of the site with the Council, to see if there are occupiers, developers or investors who may be interested in investing in Bristol and the redevelopment of this very prominent site," the statement ends.