Nestlé UK and Ireland has taken the wrapping off a major £3 million upgrade to its York head office site as employees get their first glimpse of a brand new reception, restaurant and meeting area.
The work, which began in 2017, has taken around nine months to complete and transforms the entire ground floor of Nestlé House, on the city’s Haxby Road, home to several of the company’s key functions as well as its confectionery headquarters.
With most of the work taking place behind hoardings, this morning was the first time employees at the site have had the chance to see the upgrade which includes a 180 seater restaurant, a café and a re-designed reception area.
Stefano Agostini, CEO at Nestlé UK & Ireland, cut the ribbon along with one of Nestlé House’s longest serving employees, Sharon Morris who has been with the company for 42 years. He said: “This project demonstrates our ongoing commitment to York and the UK and follows a long track record of investment in the city with still more to come.”
“Nestlé House is the home of our famous confectionery business and many of our critical functions. These changes give us a modern, flexible space that improves the working environment for everybody here. It is an important development for employee wellbeing and we want to continue to invest in our workplaces to help retain and attract the talent that Nestlé in the UK and Ireland requires.”
Question of Sport captain and former England rugby star, Matt Dawson, was also on hand to unveil the new facility. He is the wellbeing champion for Sodexo UK, the firm tasked with operating the building’s new catering and services proposition.
Alex Hayter, Client Relationship Director, at Sodexo said: “This has been a fantastic project to work on. We have worked closely with the team at Nestlé to ensure the new restaurant and catering provides a flexible restaurant environment which delivers exciting, nutritionally-balanced food which support their employees’ needs. We continue to work closely with the team at Nestlé House to ensure the workplace experience meets the need of this important building in their estate portfolio.”
Despite some unseasonal March snow and work needing to be undertaken around the normal working day of a very busy office, the project has been completed to time and budget by Simpson York Ltd.
Ron Gatenby, Chairman and CEO, at Simpsons said: “It has been a pleasure to deliver this exciting project and achieve such a dramatic transformation which we feel sure will be appreciated and enjoyed by all of the Nestle team on site using the facilities created.”
Additional development is planned on the site to further enhance the office space while work continues on a new outdoor area and entrance way to complement the new facility.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
- There are up to 1000 people working at Nestlé House and around 2,500 on Nestlé’s York campus in total.
- The building was first opened in 1969 as part of Rowntree’s and, along with the rest of the York site, has seen hundreds of millions of pounds of investment since Nestlé’s takeover in 1988.
- It has already been a very busy year for Nestlé’s York-based confectionery business with new and innovative products like Les Recettes de L’Atelier, KitKat Senses, Milkybar Wowsomes and KitKat with ruby chocolate. All four were developed by Nestlé’s Product Technology Centre situated on the same site as Nestlé House in York. The centre is Nestlé’s global research and development centre for confectionery.