Ashtons Legal 'excited' at move to Portman House in Ipswich

Ashtons Legal said it was "excited" to be moving from its current home on Ipswich Waterfront to a "unique prominent town centre location" at Portman House in June 2023.

The firm - which employs 400 staff across its offices in the East of England - has a 100-strong workforce in Ipswich which will be moving to its new offices.

Portman House - the heart of the town's business district - was built in 1921 to serve as warehousing for cigarette maker Churchmans - which had a stand named after it at the next-door stadium.

Churchmans left Ipswich in the 1990s but its unusual hairpin-shaped home was converted into office space. In recent times it was the headquarters of this newspaper.

Ashtons says it plans to further adapt it to create "a modern open working environment with high quality staff and client meeting spaces" in line with its other main offices in Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge and Norwich. 

Ashtons Legal moved to Waterfront House - its current home - in 2005 - just prior to the regeneration of the waterfront area.

Before that, the firm  - previously known as Ashton Graham and Graham & Oldham - was a tenant of the town's Electric House. The building is now owned by Ipswich Borough Assets an investment property arm which provides a commercial income stream for the borough council.

Chief executive James Tarling said: “We are excited to be making a long term commitment to the town and region with our move to this prominent building.

"Portman House will provide a better working environment for our staff, designed for the more flexible and collaborative way that we now work, as well as providing excellent facilities for our clients.

"We are looking forward to welcoming clients and others to the new offices when we complete our move in June.

"It has been a pleasure working with Savills to help us complete this move and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Ipswich Borough Assets as our new landlords.”

Colin Kreidewolf, chairman of Ipswich Borough Assets, welcomed its new tenant.

"Portman House is a unique building, situated on Princes Street, and offers excellent connectivity to Ipswich and surrounding areas, as well as Ipswich Town Football Club," he said.

"Ipswich Borough Assets will continue to support Ashtons Legal to ensure their transition is as smooth as possible."

Ashtons also has offices in Diss and Leeds.