The Marsh building will be among the buildings covered by new rules to protect the amount of office space in the city centre, it has been confirmed.

Questions were sparked about the future of Victoria House, on Queens Road, after it was announced last week that the professional services firm Marsh was planning to move out of it for a new premises at Broadland Business Park on the city’s edge.

Stefan Gurney, executive director of Norwich’s Business Improvement District, said last week that his organisation “would definitely be looking to see the building retained as office space”.

“We would not want to see it redeveloped as residential space,” he added.

And due to new rules, set to be introduced this summer, anyone looking to redevelop the building into flats will face a significantly tougher planning process.

The city has lost around 30% of its office stock since a change to planning rules in 2013 which made it easier for commercial properties to become housing.

Following a consultation in 2021, the city council’s cabinet decided effectively to reverse some of those changes at a December meeting.

The special order, known as an Article 4 direction, will mean developers will need full planning permission to convert the buildings into homes - and a map showing the zone covered by the order includes Victoria House.

More than 1,000 staff worked in Victoria House before the pandemic struck, at which point many began working from home.

Marsh has confirmed that no jobs will be lost as part of the move from the city where the firm has been for more than 50 years.

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis has previously warned that the exodus of staff would hit city centre businesses hard.

Eastern Daily Press: Norwich South MP Clive Lewis.Norwich South MP Clive Lewis. (Image: Archant)

“City centres, local businesses and the environment all suffer when large employers relocate," he said.

"Finding new, decent uses for the vacated space is often tough. So at least it’s reassuring that the city council has moved to prevent buildings like Marsh’s being turned into low-quality accommodation.

"Other – often small and independent – city centre businesses depend on custom from the staff of big employers like Marsh,” said the Labour MP.

A council spokeswoman said the authority was “disappointed to lose Marsh, a valued and long-standing employer, from the city centre, but will support any new owners of the site to secure its future redevelopment.”