Insurtech firm finds new home at West Village Leeds

QBE has become the latest tenant to join Bruntwood SciTech’s city centre workspace in Leeds. The Australian-headquartered insurtech company has agreed a lease on 37,000 sq ft across three floors of West Village. The move will see QBE relocate and expand its 300-strong employee base from its current office at Acclaim House in Central Park, Leeds. West Village is undergoing a £20m redevelopment to become a 230,000 sq ft innovation hub. It will feature a wellness studio space, a main courtyard, where Bruntwood SciTech is creating a landscaped “urban oasis”, including two private roof terraces in QBE’s workspace, communal breakout spaces and business lounge, flexible indoor and outdoor event spaces, cycle storage facility, and local independent food and drink pop-ups. Improvements are being made to the building to reduce CO2 emissions, improve air quality, reuse rainwater, reduce noise and create new habitats for birds and wildlife. Bruntwood SciTech has already prelet 75% of West Village, including to Australian fintech firm PEXA and Advisory Insurance Brokers. The building forms a part of Bruntwood SciTech’s Leeds city centre cluster of workspaces, alongside Platform and 14 King Street. Andrew Cooke, regional director for Leeds at Bruntwood SciTech, said: “QBE’s decision to choose West Village as its hub for technological development is a key deal for the region. It also reaffirms West Village as a hub for innovative and evolving businesses.” Nathan Fuller, chief operations officer at QBE Europe, added: “QBE has had a presence in Leeds for over 20 years and our expansion in recent times has been about leveraging the strong local talent base to support us in our technological development, including the establishment of our robotics centre of excellence almost three years ago. Moving to West Village is the next chapter in our story with the city.” CBRE acted for QBE on the deal. More lettings in Leeds >> Image © Bruntwood SciTech