Ceylinco Life takes its green example to Divulapitiya with eco-friendly branch

• Life insurance leader’s 39th owned branch building is town’s first green edifice

Divulapitiya, a town straddling the Negombo-Mirigama road, witnessed the opening of its first ‘green building’ with the opening of a purpose-built branch office for Ceylinco Life on company-owned land.

The 39th owned branch building of Ceylinco Life overall, and the fourth in that category in the Gampaha District alone, this two-storey, 5,500 square foot building conforms to the environment-friendly specifications adopted by the life insurance leader for all new branch buildings on company-owned real estate.

Located at No 131, Mirigama Road, Divulapitiya, the building is powered entirely by a 20kW solar power system, resulting in zero consumption of electricity from the national grid, and has its own rainwater harvesting facility and its own waste water recycling plant, in keeping with Ceylinco Life’s commitment to the environment.

It is designed for optimal use of natural light and minimum consumption of pipe-borne water, is equipped with the latest energy-efficient lighting and air conditioning systems, and minimised timber use in construction. The company has also begun planting trees on the premises to further enhance the location’s green credentials. 

The building has a training facility for up to 50 people at a time and ample dedicated parking space for customers, the Company said. It will be the new home of the staff of Ceylinco Life’s Divulapitiya branch, opened in 2006 in rented space.

On 17 September, Ceylinco Life opened another purpose-built green branch building on company-owned land in Nelliady, Jaffna, after opening its 37th branch on company-owned land in Malabe in January this year. The company is in the process of constructing a green building for its branch in Piliyandala and is extending the capacity of its Negombo branch.

Ceylinco Life currently owns the buildings housing its offices in Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Kandy, Kalutara, Kurunegala, Gampaha, Galle, Matara, Tissamaharama, Negombo, Ratnapura, Kotahena, Mount Lavinia and Wellawatte, many of which have already been converted to solar energy. New branch buildings purpose-built to the company’s sustainable energy model are those at Horana, Panadura, Wennappuwa, Bandarawela, Chilaw, Kadawatha, Jaffna, Malabe and Divulapitiya.

Ceylinco Life operates the largest network of 250 plus branches in Sri Lanka’s life insurance industry, giving it a physical presence in 142 cities, towns and villages in every one of the island’s 25 districts. 

Sri Lanka’s leading life insurer for more than half of the 32 years it has been in existence, and certified as a ‘Great Workplace’ in Sri Lanka by Great Place to Work, Ceylinco Life was ranked the Most Valuable Life Insurance Brand in Sri Lanka by Brand Finance this year and declared the ‘Peoples Life Insurance Service Provider of the Year’ for the 14th consecutive year at the 2020 SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards. 

The company was ranked among the 10 ‘Most Admired Companies’ in the country by the International Chamber of Commerce, Sri Lanka (ICCSL) in 2019 and in the same year was named the ‘Best Life Insurer in Sri Lanka’ for the sixth consecutive year by World Finance, and ranked sixth overall in the Business Today ranking of the country’s top 30 companies.

Ceylinco Life has close to a million lives covered by active policies and is acknowledged as a benchmark in the local insurance sector for innovation, product research and development, customer service, professional development and corporate social responsibility.