SOUTHEND could wind up with yet another empty office block following confirmation the owner of EssexHouse, the Lloyds Bank building, has gone into receivership.

Lloyds is due to move out of the Southchurch Road office block on December 14, with no sign of a new tenant to take it on.

Tower blocks in Victoria Avenue are already standing empty, but business leaders had hoped owner Mapeley Acquisitions might find fresh tenants for the Lloyds building.

However, the property company, registered in Bermuda, has now gone into administration, plunging the 12-storey block’s future into doubt.

John Lamb, Southend councillor responsible for business, expressed shocked at the news.

He said: “That’s a real shame, as I had hoped someone would take on the offices to run a viable business.

“It’s a big concern if the people who own the building are facing financial difficulties themselves and no tenants have been secured.

“However, it is still being worked on by the council’s economics team and we will be looking to see who is trying to move to the town. It could mean the receivers have to sell the building at a knock-down rate, so a new owner can come forward and market Essex House.”

Lloyds announced in April it was leaving the tower block. It is due to leave next month, with the loss of 250 jobs.

At its peak, more than 400 bank staff were based in the building’s 50,740 square feet of offices.

Mapeley Acquisitions, a subsidiary of London-based Mapeley Estates, paid £6.3million for Essex House in 2005. The building is now only thought to be worth about £2.6million.

The tower block is one of 20 British buildings bought by Mapeley in the UK with finance Deutsche Bank.

The company paid about £244million for the buildings and they are now thought to be worth just £75million, prompting the bank to petition for the receivers to come in.

A Lloyds spokesman refused to say if Mapeley going into receivership had been a deciding factor in its decision to move out of Southend.

Equally, it is also not clear if Lloyds’ decision not to renew the lease contributed to Mapeley’s financial problems.

A Southend Council spokesman said: “It is not our building and no one here has heard of Mapeley Estates, or knew anything about the receivership.

“No attempts were made to work with the owner of the building. The council leader, Nigel Holdcroft, and chief executive, Rob Tinlin, had a number of meetings with Lloyds to try to get it to stay on, but it was to no avail.”

Mapeley remains the registered owner, but referred the Echo to Deutsche Bank, which did not respond to our questions.

The Echo also contacted administrator Deloitte LLP, in London, but got no response.