Back to the future for new 24-hour call centre

LV= is to open a 175-strong call centre in a former woollen mill built in 1844 – just a year after the friendly society was founded as Liverpool Victoria.

It has taken 13,000 sq ft in Folly Hall Mills, Huddersfield, which until it closed in 1982 had a worldwide reputation for worsted and suits.

Due to open in July, the call centre will house 100 staff from LV= subsidiary Britannia Rescue who will move from nearby Station Buildings where it has been based for 20 years and has reached capacity.

Within 18 months, LV= says it will hire 75 more staff for the new call centre, making it the society’s primary 24-hour centre for car and home insurance policy holders.

Folly Hall Mills comprises two Grade II* listed buildings on the banks of the River Colne which, in a £8m project, have been converted by Jay Tee Group into 60,000 sq ft of office space, rented at about £15 per sq ft.  It has its own café bar – appropriately called Café 1844 – on the ground floor of the larger building.

Jay Tee’s project director, Paul Bailey, said his company was delighted to welcome LV= to Folly Hall Mills and said: “The interior…is absolutely stunning, with vaulted ceilings, spiral staircases, exposed beams and flooded with natural light. It is an absolutely wonderful place to work”.

And the general manager of LV=’s Huddersfield operation, Simon Stevens, said: “We are delighted to be expanding in the town. When many other financial companies are making redundancies we are actually expanding”.

LV=, the UK’s biggest friendly society by net assets, employs more than 3,800 people among its 14 UK sites and claims 3.6m-plus members and customers.  Britannia Rescue is said to be the country’s fourth largest of its type.

Folly Hall Mills: LV=’s new call centre will be in the building on the right

Wonderful place to work: Paul Bailey

Delighted to be expanding: Simon Stevens