Wales’ top rugby stars caused a media scrum when they gathered in Cardiff to officially launch the £60 million headquarters of insurance specialist Admiral Group.
Some of the team’s top players took a break from their intensive Six Nations training regime to visit the 243,000 sq ft city centre building, which is Wales’ largest ever pre-let office development.
Standing 11 storeys high, with three floors of basement car parking, the development was recently completed by leading Birmingham-based property developer Stoford and Union Investments.
It is now the HQ for 2,400 Admiral employees who have relocated to the office from three other locations in the Welsh capital. Admiral also has offices in Newport and Swansea.
The event yesterday (February 9) was a celebration of the success of the working partnership between Admiral, Stoford, funders Union Investment Real Estate GmbH and construction company Sir Robert McAlpine.
The architecturally eye-catching BREEAM Excellent building, directly behind St David’s 2 Shopping Centre, meets the highest standards of environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.
Stoford director Tony Nash said: “It was fantastic to see some of the guys from the Wales squad come along and give Admiral’s new headquarters the star treatment. They’ve just started their Six Nations campaign so it was great that they were able to help us celebrate the unveiling of an amazing office development right in the heart of Cardiff.”
He added: “It is an outstanding example of a successful working partnership delivering a highly complex city centre project.”
Admiral CEO Henry Engelhardt said: “We’re delighted to officially open our fantastic headquarters, Ty Admiral is an outstanding building for our staff to work in and we’re grateful for the teams from within and outside of Admiral who worked tirelessly to create a working environment worthy of our superb workforce.”
Wales captain Sam Warburton said: “It is an honour and a privilege for myself and other players to open Admiral’snew headquarters, and as ever we’ve loved meeting the people who work here. The support we receive from admiral’s staff is always fantastic and we’re always made to feel unbelievably welcome.”
