Tree house meeting room at Moneypenny’s headquarters
Moneypenny, the legal sector’s leading outsourced switchboard and telephone answering specialist, is today unveiling its new £15m headquarters.
Designed to create “the happiest workplace in the UK”, the pioneering building reflects the company’s rapid growth and has been built based on the feedback of its 500 employees – many of whom represent the country’s leading law firms and legal practices.
Ed Reeves, co-founder and director of Moneypenny, masterminded the pioneering project. He said: “We understand completely what our legal clients need, and that’s the very best receptionists in the world.
Professional, positive and knowledgeable people, from an outsourcing partner with virtually no staff turnover, who will represent their firms to the highest standard at all times. Our new office has once again raised the bar in achieving this, ensuring we continue to attract and retain the most talented receptionists in order to support our legal clients in the future.”
Endorsed by the Law Society, Moneypenny answers in excess of two million calls a year for law firms across the UK.
Inside, the striking 91,000sq ft building – which rivals the likes of Google and Apple’s headquarters – boasts a treehouse meeting room, its own village pub, a sun terrace and a triple height atrium with stadium seating and a restaurant offering free breakfast and fruit. Outside the development is equally impressive and surrounded by seven acres of landscaped grounds with nature trails, a duck pond and orchards with picturesque countryside views.
Ed continued: “What we believe is simple: the happier our staff, the happier our clients. So when we made the decision to build a new office, we asked ourselves how we can make sure our receptionists are the happiest in the UK? The answer was easy – ask them.
“The response we got was phenomenal and their ideas formed the blueprint for the building’s design. For us, the office is more than just bricks and mortar. It’s a manifestation of our ethos, of our achievements so far, of our culture, and of our aspirations.”
Moneypenny also worked closely with expert sound engineers to construct bespoke sound absorption and elimination technology that creates the perfect call handling environment.
Joanna Swash, commercial director, for Moneypenny said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to reveal our new head office. Since Moneypenny was founded 16 years ago it’s been our aim to set the industry standard for ‘excellence’ and our new headquarters is a natural progression of this.”
Remarkably, the entire development cost the same price as a standard brick ‘box’ office too.
Ed added: “We provided our architects, AEW, with the same budget we’d been quoted to build a standard office and said ‘right, show us how we can create something amazing’. It was a challenge, but we ripped up the rulebook and that’s exactly what they did.
“Our new headquarters will deliver serious benefits for both ourselves and our clients, and we’ve already heard from a number of companies who want to use it as a model for their own developments.”
Able to house up to 1,000 employees, the building further supports Moneypenny’s plans to create an additional 500 jobs within the next few years.
This is the latest in business-leading moves that Moneypenny has made to guarantee the well-being of its staff. Four years ago, the company set up an office in New Zealand where legal receptionists fly out to answer overnight UK calls on six month secondments so they don’t have to work night shifts.
