Famous Liverpool maritime business, that dates back to 1807, announced in September it was leaving the Duke Street base it had occupied for 25 years. Tony McDonough reports

Bibby Line Group has sold its 57,000 sq ft former headquarters in Liverpool for an undisclosed sum.

The famous Liverpool maritime business, that dates back to 1807, announced in September that it was relocating its Liverpool headquarters and 150 employees from Duke Street to Walker House, Exchange Flags, in the city’s commercial district.

The company was based in Duke Street for more than 25 years. The building has been sold to developer, CERT Property Group. Bibby Line Group is a diverse, £800m-turnover business, operating in 16 countries and employing 4,000 people in retail, financial services, distribution, marine and construction equipment hire.

Chief executive John Cresswell said: “Duke Street has served us well over the last 25 years but relocating to Exchange Flags brings us closer to the centre of the business community and provides our fantastic team with a new, modern working environment, better equipped for the needs of current and future colleagues and customers.”

Howard Lord, managing director of CERT, added: “Our intention is to create a contemporary working environment for businesses of all sizes while celebrating the building’s stunning heritage features. We will be working in collaboration with a fantastic delivery team and look forward to releasing more details of our plans in due course.”

Property consultancy Avison Young advised Bibby Line Group on the deal and CERT Property Group was advised by B1 Real Estate.

Ian Steele, principal at Avison Young, said: “We understand that it is the purchaser’s intention to retain the building on Duke Street for office use which is really positive news  as Liverpool, has lost in excess of 2m sq ft of office space to other alternative uses during the course of the last few years and which further supports the continued growth and investment in the Ropewalks area.”