A new Ipswich site for rail freight haulage company Freightliner is set to be "critical" in the roll-out of training in a new signalling system for the East.

The company has taken on the entire seventh floor of one of the town's leading office buildings - St Vincent House.

It has created its own training academy in the 5,354sq ft space containing new training resources for the rail freight industry.

The site will deliver courses as part of the East Coast Digital Programme. This involves the initial roll-out of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) - or signalling system - on the East Coast Mainline South.

Freightliner's ERTMS operations specialist Craig Evans said the Ipswich site would be "critical" for this.

“St Vincent House (SVH) presented us with a blank canvas within which to create a unique space that met all of our needs across the board.

"The communal areas are incredibly impressive and there is strong sense of community amongst tenants which cultivates a really positive sense of place.

“Suffolk is an important location for us, with our train crew and maintenance facilities located in Ipswich as well as being close to the Port of Felixstowe, a major UK hub for Freightliner."

St Vincent House owner and operator MCR Property Group says it has invested "a significant seven figure sum" into upgrading and modernising the Grade A central office building with the aim of attracting leading local, national and international brands. 

"St Vincent House offers 360 degree panoramic views across Ipswich, and following the extensive upgrade programme, presents one of the town’s most desirable business locations," it said.

Its acquisitions and asset manager Cameron Thomson said they were "incredibly pleased" to welcome Freightliner to SVH.

"Since we took ownership of the 60,000sq ft building, we have invested in a carefully considered series of improvement works that we believe substantially elevates the tenant proposition.

"We are now seeing our efforts realised with more than 32,000sq ft of space let at SVH in the last 24 months, reflecting an increase in occupancy from 15% to 75%, with only two floors remaining available.”

Savills and Reader Commercial are joint letting agents for the building.

Jonathan Oxley of Savills said: "It’s fantastic to see SVH approaching full capacity now that we have achieved this letting of the 7th floor to bring in Freightliner.

"MCR’s strong sense of vision and purpose for the building was clear, and it’s true to say that the building is working better and better the stronger the occupancy, which we are now seeing.”