Cumberland Place, Southampton
This landmark office building in Southampton’s central business district was acquired in 2014 for clients. The building had suffered from decades of under investment and its future as an office building looked uncertain.
At the time, most redundant office buildings were being converted to residential use. Ashville were however keen to transform this building and realise its potential as a modern, high class office environment.
A new extended stylish reception area was created and touchdown areas were added for visitors and occupiers. A relaxed and collaborative business lounge with a café zone was also created for use by its tenants.
The building was re-branded to remove any historic negative connotations and aligning it with an image that businesses would want to be associated with.
Supporting a healthy workforce and promoting exercise is something that Ashville also wanted to encourage. New stylish showers, changing facilities, lockers, and a drying room, along with secure cycle storage and a bike repair station were therefore provided. In addition, communal city bikes were made available for tenants to use to get around town quickly and easily.
The success of White Building has been well documented with the building quickly becoming 100% occupied, an impressive list of tenants and a record rent for Southampton achieved for the upper floors. It also received awards for ‘Working Environment of the Year’, ‘Development of the Year (South Coast Property Awards) and ‘Highly Commended’ in RICS Property Awards and is now regarded as the best office scheme in central Southampton.
