Mercer set to expand with move into Quartermile

PENSIONS and investment adviser Mercer is gearing up for expansion in Scotland after yesterday announcing that it will move its Edinburgh office to the Quartermile development.

The firm already has about 100 staff in the capital, but its new offices next to the former royal infirmary building will give it space to double its headcount.

Steven Blackie, Mercer’s regional business leader in Scotland, said: “The move demonstrates our continued commitment to growth and investment in Scotland.

“We have secured several major new clients in the past year and our new location offers the potential to expand our teams further as we continue to develop the business.”

Mercer is currently based on the city’s Hanover Street and will move into its new offices during November.

In July, the firm moved its Glasgow operation into the G1 building, the city’s former Post Office, on George Square.

The switch into the redeveloped Victorian building will give the company room to expand its workforce in the city from about 200 to around 300 staff.

Ben Reed, director of property firm Jones Lang LaSalle, which acted for Mercer on the Edinburgh move, said: “The arrival of another well-respected professional services firm can only be good news for the Quartermile development. Given Edinburgh’s current lack of ‘Grade-A’ office space offering large floor plates, Quartermile proved popular with Mercer.”

In June, Gladedale – the Lloyds Banking Group-owned property developer that built Quartermile’s office space – drafted in property firm CB Richard Ellis to help find international investors from the Middle East and North America for the Edinburgh site.

Law firms Maclay Murray & Spens and Morton Fraser have both taken space in the Quartermile office blocks.

Morley Fund Management bought the Quartermile One building in October 2007 on behalf of Norwich Property Trust, while Swiss property investment fund AFIAA purchased the Quartermile Two building in August 2010.