Global services provider expanding with additional space in Cardiff

300 new jobs being created at 19,500 sq ft new offices

9 March 2016

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Acting as joint agents, Cooke & Arkwright have secured new offices for Firstsource at Oakleigh House in Park Place. The global outsource services provider to the telecom & media, banking & financial services and healthcare industries, also has offices in Cardiff Bay and is expanding after securing a new client contract with a global entertainment organisation. Around 300 new jobs will be created for a contact centre at the new 19,500 sq ft offices, where a lease has been taken across two floors.

The deal is one of the largest to be completed in recent months in the city, following the BBC at Central Square, Public Health Wales at Capital Quarter and Deloittes at Park Street. Cunningham Lindsey, the current tenant at Oakleigh House, was advised by Square Foot Consulting, who appointed Cooke & Arkwright to act jointly with Lambert Smith Hampton to sublet the space.

Ben Bolton, Business Space Director at Cooke & Arkwright said, “Our challenge when instructed 12 months ago, was to let the space within a year, and I’m delighted that we have achieved this. We had to overcome tight timescales for the new occupier to hit their contract deadlines whilst working within the existing lease structure. The property is a great fit for both occupiers, with the added benefit of an international company like Firstsource bringing numerous jobs to Cardiff.”

The letting will put further pressure on Cardiff’s limited supply of Grade A stock until new schemes come to fruition over the coming months.

Cooke & Arkwright have been providing rating valuation advice to The Welsh Rugby Union Limited (“WRU”) and Millennium Stadium plc for many years. They were recently successful in achieving substantial reductions in the assessments of the Millennium Stadium, covering both the 2005 and 2010 rating list. These negotiated reductions yielded savings of c.£3.5m which, crucially, allows the WRU to re-invest in rugby throughout Wales. They advise the WRU across the group portfolio including the National Centre of Excellence in the Vale of Glamorgan. The valuation issues across the WRU portfolio are complex requiring a high level of understanding of the funding and finances of professional sport in Wales. Cooke & Arkwright’s experience and understanding of these issues and application to the rating valuation have yielded these substantial negotiated reductions. The WRU and the Millennium Stadium entrust our work to organisations with the required levels in experience and expertise in dealing with these complex issues. I am glad to say we have this expertise in Wales. I would have no hesitation in recommending ratepayers making use of this Welsh based expertise.

The Welsh Rugby Union Limited, Welsh Rugby Union Group