Start on site confirmed at £350 million Leeds City Centre development

Start on site confirmed at £350 million Leeds City Centre development

(Press release CEG:) London, 16 March 2020 - CEG has appointed BAM Construction to deliver the first phase of its £350million development at Globe Road, Leeds, with a start on site confirmed for 30th March.

It is the only announced speculative new build office completing in Leeds City Centre in 2021.

Known as Globe Point, this first development totals 37,798 sq ft over seven floors and incorporates office space with ground floor break out space, retail and leisure. Its iconic design by award-winning Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, will be the first flat iron building to be built in Leeds since 1875.

Nick Lee, Development Director of CEG, said: ‘We have taken a different approach to the design of our first development at Temple, with occupiers front of mind. We are harnessing everything we have learnt about what our customers need for their business to thrive and will deliver it in a contemporary, flexible and unique way.’

John Phillips, BAM’s Regional Director for the North East, said: ‘BAM is the ideal fit for CEG’s ingenious vision for Leeds. Being not only an historic company here, but also highly modern in our methods and collaborative in our approach, really matches the qualities of the building and its wider context. We have built many of the most recognisable buildings in the city, but you are only as good as the next one you build; and as ever, it is the quality of your relationships that drives the quality of your work. There is genuine excitement at BAM about being a part of this tremendous and far-sighted development that really connects to the soul of the city.’

While phase one will be complete by spring/summer 2021, CEG is already working on the detailed design of its second phase, One Globe Square, which has reserved matters planning permission for 135,481 sq ft of offices with ground floor retail and leisure.

CEG recognises that the way businesses occupy workspace has changed dramatically over the last five years. This is largely driven by business placing people and technology at the heart of their decision making. As long-term investment managers CEG takes a very different approach to the design, construction and management of the office buildings to reflect an ethos of creating enduring, positive relationships with occupiers.

As well as offering corporate and headquarter space, CEG will also deliver its studio concept, offering all-inclusive flexible, fully furnished and comms ready workspace with kitchens, break-out and meeting areas for small and medium sized businesses.

Paul Fox, Director of property agency Fox Lloyd Jones, said: ‘There is an acute supply gap of new and refurbished Grade A office buildings in Leeds. We are also seeing rising demand, particularly following Channel 4’s announcement that the city would be its new headquarters. Of the Grade A stock currently available, which typically accounts for 60% of total take up, headquarter-style properties under 50,000 sq ft are limited to just a handful of options. This undersupply, combined with Temple’s unrivalled location, just minutes’ walk from Leeds City Station and the commitment to build speculatively, is very exciting, and we are engaging with pre-let interest.’

CEG also has outline planning permission for further development of up to 1.1million sq ft of offices, shops, cafés, restaurants, bars, hotel and up to 750 new homes. This, along with innovative outdoor plazas and green spaces will create a thriving, vibrant and welcoming space to enjoy for those who will live, work and visit.

The developments will be at the heart of Temple, a new district within the city centre which forms a key part of the South Bank Regeneration Area of Leeds, adjacent to Leeds trains station. It includes the 8.69 acre sites around Water Lane and Globe Road which CEG secured planning permission for last year, as well as the historic Grade I listed Temple Works, which was acquired in early 2018.

Temple will be a new neighbourhood, forging its own identity and character, attracting the city’s pioneers and creatives once again. It puts Marshall’s Temple Mill at its heart, picking up on the spirit of change and innovation that characterised the area in its industrial heyday. More than a regeneration project, it is a new way of living and working in the city that will form a vital part of its future economic and social well-being.

Stirling prize winning architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios is working with CEG to masterplan Temple. Inspiring buildings, innovative outdoor spaces and improved connectivity between Holbeck, to Temple Works and then, via the Grade II listed bridge whose retention CEG has secured, over Hol Beck into this thriving development, will transform this major new city centre district.