ONE of Chelmsford's biggest employers is to quit the city after 10 years to relocate to Witham.
Cofunds, a leading financial firm, were unable to find another building in the city to cater for their expanding workforce.
So the 600-strong firm, based in Dorset House on Duke Street, will move to their new home in Mayland House, Witham, late next year after they spend £10 million on refurbishing the 66,000 square foot property.
The deal is thought to be the biggest office letting in Essex for 10 years and the refurbishment is expected to be the largest of its kind outside of central London in 2013.
"It always sad to leave a place you've called home for so long," said Alastair Conway, Cofunds' sales and marketing director.
"But we've grown pretty rapidly over the last 10 years and we are pretty squashed at our existing site.
"We needed a site that could cope with the numbers of people we anticipate to have over the next 10 years.
"There was nothing we felt was viable for us as a business in Chelmsford and Mayland House fitted the bill."
The company, which looks after £46 billion for 800,000 investors, has said that they will maintain their links with the city through a graduate programme with Anglia Ruskin University.
They have signed a 15-year lease from March 2013 for Mayland House, which has 304 car parking spaces, from Braintree District Council.
The building was given to the council in June 2010 as part of a deal with March and McLennan when the firm surrendered its lease.
It remained empty until December 2011 and cost Braintree council tax payers more than half a million pounds in upkeep costs, before an insurance company took over a single floor, bringing with them 30 staff.
Councillor Graham Butland, leader of Braintree District Council, said: "This is great news for the district.
"Despite the current challenging market conditions, we have been able to negotiate what we are advised by our property agents is the biggest office letting in Essex for 10 years."
The deal takes the white elephant off the council's books and looks set to generate £450,000 a year for the local authority.
Martin Davis, Cofunds chief executive, said: "Our architects are working on some exciting designs for the extensive refurbishment of Mayland House and we see great potential for really putting our mark on the building to make it a home.
"We're very much looking forward to working with local businesses so we can really be a part of the Witham community."