Staff at Anglian Home Improvements have been warned their jobs could be at risk as the company looks to close an Ipswich call centre - less than a year after it opened.

The customer contact centre at Hubbard House in Civic Drive, Ipswich was officially unveiled in May 2018 but now the 15 staff based there have been warned their jobs are under threat.

“As part of an ongoing review into business efficiencies, it is proposed that our Ipswich contact centre will close,” a spokesman for the Norwich-based company said.

“As such, we are currently in consultation with 15 employees based there.

“We are supporting our staff in exploring alternative roles within the business.”

The spokesman added: “This is a sensitive time for all concerned and we cannot comment further during this consultation period.”

The firm said it was unable at this stage to say when the centre would close, should the proposals go ahead.

When the centre was opened, Anglian Home Improvements said staff in Ipswich would make 35,000 calls per week, working a six-day week from Monday to Saturday.

Georgina Greengrass, contact centre operations manager, said at the time of the opening that the firm wanted to provide a “best in class service from the very first time they speak to an Anglian representative”.

She also said Ipswich was an ideal location for the centre because of the town’s strong labour pool, as well as the fact it was close to Anglian Home Improvements’ headquarters in Norwich.

Staff were said to be providing customers with information about a wide range of home improvement products, including windows, doors and conservatories.

The firm, which was established in 1966 and employees 3,500 people in total, had previously worked from a smaller office in Norwich Road.