Hundreds of jobs are to be axed after insurance giants Aviva announced it was shutting three offices across Greater Manchester in the next 18 months.
Workers at the firm’s Salford Quays base have been told the site will be vacated by December 2016 while the bases in Stretford and Albert Square will be relocated to Norwich, giving some employees the chance to relocate.
The decision, which will affect 780 staff, has been made after the company’s £5.6billion takeover of Friends Life was completed, meaning the company is looking to save £225 million by the end of 2017.
An Aviva a spokesman said: “When we announced the acquisition of Friends Life we said that we would inform our people about any changes which impact them as soon as possible.
“So today we have updated our people about proposals to focus our operations on a number of core locations in the UK.
“We have previously said that we expect to deliver approximately £225 million of annual savings by the end of 2017 as a result of the Friends Life acquisition. Savings are expected to come from a number of areas, including simplifying the business and reducing property costs.
“As part of our proposals, we have today informed employees that we will exit our Salford Quays office by the end of 2016.”
He added that Aviva will continue to have a trading presence in Manchester and some employees based in Albert Square will move to a new city centre office.
