Specialist insurance broker firm expands with new city centre HQ

Cowgills Property Finance team has advised Insurance Revolution on the acquisition of 8,460 sq ft of commercial office space at Citygate in Castlefield Manchester for £1.1m.

The company, which specialises in insurance provision for fast food delivery and courier companies as well as business car and commercial fleet insurance, acquired the property out of administration having worked with Cowgills to secure £825k funding from Yorkshire Bank.

The move will see Insurance Revolution move 50 employees from Boulton House on Chorlton Street to Citygate where it will create a new head office for the rapidly growing business. The company intends to invest up to £200,000 on fitting out the property to create a modern, Covid-secure workplace which will include a private gym for staff.

Commenting on the acquisition Insurance Revolution CEO Mark Rigby said: “The business has achieved year on year growth since it was established in 2012 and we’ve seen a significant uptick in recent months in our core market of food delivery and courier services due to the change in consumer habits as a result of Covid.

“Acquiring a city centre property and creating a new head office has been a long held aspiration and is key to helping us create the best possible working environment for our people and achieve our ambitious expansion plans. Citygate is the perfect location and provides twice the space we previously had, space we will certainly need as we expect to double our staff numbers again in the next few years. It is close to the A57 , Metrolink and Deansgate station, it comes with its own parking spaces and most importantly is just a short walk from the city centre amenities for our staff.”

David Rainford, Cowgills Property Finance director who advised Insurance Revolution on the funding added: “It has been a pleasure to play a part in this significant milestone for Insurance Revolution and get this deal across the line in what remains a challenging funding market. It is testament to the strength of the client’s business and I look forward to seeing their continued future growth.”

Insurance Revolution, which is part of the iRevolution Group has gone through a period of significant organic growth over past 12 months generating an annual insurance premium income of £32m. Throughout the pandemic the business has been actively recruiting staff with ten new starters joining in the last couple of months, another three will start next week.

Commenting on the finance arrangement with Yorkshire Bank managing director Uwais Patel added: “I can’t speak highly enough of Cowgills and Hannah Stokes and the team at Yorkshire Bank who turned this deal around for us within a matter of weeks, having experienced a hiatus with our previous lender. David  and Hannah worked seamlessly to help us secure this funding and acquire the property.”

Hannah Stokes added:  “We’ve worked with David and the team at Cowgills for many years and they always bring us really strong, high calibre funding opportunities such as this. Given the current climate is it really rewarding to be able to support a thriving business and help them achieve their growth ambitions. We wish them the best of luck in their new premises.”

Carolyn Van Hecke at Cowgills also provided Insurance Revolution with specialist VAT advice, Juber Deriwala at Curtis Law Solicitors provided the legal advice.