The UK arm of Swedish software provider IFS has taken a ten year lease on the top two floors totalling 33,784 sq ft at Artisan, the Skillbond building on the Sands Industrial Estate.

It is the largest office letting in Wycombe for some years. The rent of £15 per sq ft equates to £506,000 per annum.

Nick Sargent's development company acquired the 87,337 sq ft building from Pfizer four years ago and invested £2 million to bring the interior up to date for 21st century multi nationals.

The office block at the junction of Lane End Road and Hillbottom Road, a few hundred yards from the Adams Park football ground, was built in the 1970s for GD Searle, the pharmaceutical company that was the first to manufacture the contraceptive pill.

The headquarters building had been empty for two years when it was bought by Skillbond, owners of The Valley Centre in High Wycombe.

Following the upgrade, the ground floor has a redesigned staff restaurant with large new lantern in the roof and a wall of glass onto a courtyard for maximum natural light. The 2,500 sq ft reception area leads to 24,500 sq ft of open plan ground floor offices incorporating a glazed open courtyard.

The floors above have been redecorated and are furnished with top quality office furniture left behind by Pfizer, Searle's successors.

Nick Sargent came to Wycombe from London in the 1980s when he transferred his dental company to the Gordon Road site where five years later he built The Valley Business Centre.

The move to Artisan is a significant expansion for IFS which has 200 employees in the UK and is part of a group with a workforce of 2,800 employees worldwide. The operation in this country was started from an office at High Wycombe's Peregrine Business Park with a staff of ten in 1997. The company currently occupies offices in London Road owned by Skillbond.

The remaining 42,117 sq ft at Artisan can be divided into units from 3,193 psf and is available through Duncan & Bailey Kennedy & Savills who are quoting £16.50 for the larger areas and £17.50 for the smaller space on the ground and first floors.

Savills and DBK represented Skillbond in the letting to IFS. Stupples acted for the software company.

12:59pm Monday 6th October 2008

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