Norwich Union
Last updated | 25/04/2007
Norwich Union's huge office complex in Perth is in many ways the hidden giant of the Fair City. The vast building, with a floor-area equivalent to 4½ football pitches, nestles comfortably into a series of tiers ranged up a hillside overlooking Perth. Yet its design combines both the discreet and understated commercial traditions inherited from the Victorian era with a thoroughly modern outlook and business approach.
The complex was built as a world headquarters between 1979 and 1983 by General Accident (GA), the insurance company founded in Perth in the late-nineteenth century, which grew into one of Scotland's few truly global companies. In the early 1990s, GA reaffirmed its commitment to Perth by investing substantially in a hi-tech printing and publishing plant in another part of the city.
In the late 1990s, as first GA merged with Commercial Union to form CGU, which in turn merged with Norwich Union to form CGNU (subsequently renamed Aviva). Ill-informed speculation claimed that Perth (and Scotland) was about to lose another major corporate centre, along with hundreds of jobs.
That things turned out so differently is due in no small measure to the quality of the location and the staff at what has in fact become one of CGNU's key UK centres, home to the Corporate Partnerships division of Norwich Union Insurance (NUI) - the UK trading identity of CGNU.
" We are here to stay," says Alan Logan, head of change management in Perth. "In fact, our staff numbers increased by some 26% during 2001/02, and Perth is now a recognised part of the career-path within NUI. Some of our corporate high-flyers spend time here as they learn about the Group and progress to senior management roles."
Perth is now consolidating its role as one of NUI's key locations in the UK, home to the Corporate Partnerships division - responsible for 30% of the group's £5 billion total UK turnover. The Pitheavlis complex also houses a variety of specialist functions including responsibility for Broker Business in Scotland and the north of England, Group Pensions, and the Underwriting Academy.
Some 250 staff work in a customer service centre selling motor and home insurance over the phone. Although this only opened in October 2000, within 18 months it was the best-performing call-centre in the NUI network.
" There's no doubt that our success in Perth owes a huge amount to the quality and motivation of the staff we have here," says Alan. "Visitors from our offices in the south are envious not only of the surroundings in the offices themselves (and especially our superb Sports and Leisure Complex), but also of the quality of life in and around Perthshire.
" I think it's seen as a relatively quiet and relaxed place to live, but it's so easy to get to the bright lights of Edinburgh and Glasgow if that's what you're looking for, or head off into the Highlands for real solitude. In business terms, it's almost as quick for us to get to London by air from Perth as it is from, say, our Bradford office by train."
NUI is demonstrating its commitment to its staff in Perth - and to the community of which they are a significant and growing part - with extensive sponsorship for local initiatives and support for local charities.
"Our brand theme is 'Together We're Stronger'," says Alan, "and that applies just as much in national advertising as it does at the staff relations and community involvement level. We are growing a quality workforce in a quality environment, and Perth is ideally equipped to help us do that."
