{"id":2168137,"date":"2026-09-28T04:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2168137"},"modified":"2026-09-28T04:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T01:46:12","slug":"tech-firm-halo-moves-into-ipswichs-landmark-willis-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2168137","title":{"rendered":"Tech firm Halo moves into Ipswich’s landmark Willis building"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/df76\/live\/c37e4270-f69f-11f0-a917-d3d793525367.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"AndrewAndrew Woodger\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Willis Building remains revolutionary, according to its designer Lord Norman Foster<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The founder of a technology company says its move to the heart of Ipswich will help make the town a “start-up incubator” that will keep young talent in the county.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Halo is moving its headquarters to the Willis Building – a Grade I listed glass office space designed by Lord Norman Foster, with insurance firm Willis – now called WTW – retaining a smaller presence there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Founder Paul Hamilton confirmed to the BBC that staff will move into the building on Monday – and 250 people will be based there by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This move reinstates our commitment to the region, and ambition to make Ipswich a tech hub,” he said, adding that the firm wanted “to respect a historic and iconic building”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He says the company has ambitions to “create 5,000 jobs in 10 years”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Willis Building is considered a local landmark and one of the most “revolutionary” office buildings in Suffolk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It celebrated its 50th anniversary last year after being originally built for the insurance firm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"JamieJamie Niblock\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Founder Paul Hamilton says he wants to “hit our target of 1,000 graduates in Ipswich by the end of 2030”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Worth an estimated \u00a31bn, Halo is a global software company that builds IT service management and workflow platforms, used by major organisations such as Microsoft and Red Bull.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The company focuses its recruitment on graduates – with the average employee age about 24.2 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Hamilton said the move to the Willis Building was a “huge next step” and gave the company “the capability to expand further and hit our target of 1,000 graduates in Ipswich by the end of 2030”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We are looking forward to working alongside WTW after the incredible 50 years they’ve had in the building so far,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"MattMatt Marvel\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Its yellow and green interior is part of the building’s Grade I listing and Hamilton reckons it creates a special working environment<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Halo initially had two offices in Stowmarket but will keep one open.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, the software firm replaced Ed Sheeran as the main sponsor of Ipswich Town’s football shirts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jack Abbott, Labour MP for Ipswich, previously said the move was “massive” for the town, and that it symbolised “our economic rejuvenation”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The building has provided a backdrop to various charity sculpture trails, including the Elmer one in 2019<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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LISTEN: The Willis Building: A lifelong passion<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Follow Suffolk news on <\/i>BBC Sounds<\/i>, <\/i>Facebook<\/i>, <\/i>Instagram<\/i> and <\/i>X<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c9770p8140k8o”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/df76\/live\/c37e4270-f69f-11f0-a917-d3d793525367.jpg”] Andrew Woodger\/BBC The Willis Building remains revolutionary, according to its designer Lord Norman Foster The founder of a technology company says its move to the heart of Ipswich will help make the town a “start-up incubator” that will keep young talent in the county. Halo is moving its headquarters to the Willis […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2168137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2168137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2168137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2168137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2168137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2168137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}