Business Must have a Strong Local Voice - Somerset Chamber of ...

Member’s NewsOld Mill Moves to WellsWest Country accountants and financialplanners Old Mill has relocated its SheptonMallet office to the Cathedral Park businesscomplex in neighbouring Wells.This week, 80 staff moved from the Old Mill on Park Road to BishopbrookHouse; a brand new carbon friendly building commissioned by Old Mill andfunded through the Old Mill Partners’ pension scheme.The two-storey office has 10,000 square foot of office space on the firstfloor for up to 100 staff while the ground floor has a reception, board room,conference rooms and around 7,000square foot of office space for let. Old Mill is one of the West Country’s fastestgrowing accountancy firms. Originally based in Shepton Mallet and Yeovil, overthe past six years it has opened three new offices in Exeter, Melksham andDorchester and more than doubled in size, now employing more than 250people.The Yeovil office relocated in November 2012, while a new office for SheptonMallet has been on the cards for many years, as Head of Finance andOperations Mike Butler, who has overseen the development explains:“We started to outgrow the Shepton office, which was formerly a 19 th century mill, around six years ago and beganto look for a new office in the town. We wanted an open plan design and plenty of room for expansion but afteryears of searching, we couldn’t find anything suitable, so decided to embark on a project to build something thatwould fit our needs.“We chose to build at Cathedral Parkbecause once completed, it will beone of the key business destinationsin the region. Plus it is set in awonderful rural location, has greataccess and parking and utilisesgreen and sustainable buildingsolutions, which was important tous.”Mike says although Old Mill is sad tobe leaving Shepton after more than80 years in the town, the movebrings with it lots of newopportunities: “Shepton has been atthe very heart of our business eversince it was founded in the 1930sand we will be retaining strong linksin the town, but by moving to a newsite, we are able to developsomething that is just right for ourfirm’s current needs.”Picture: Staff in the new office L-RAndrew Moore, Karen Caddey,Rebecca Madden, Bruce Lockhart,Di Hale, Valerie Fell, Matt Dampier9