How Platform building “raised the bar” for workspace in Leeds

For just over a year the Leeds city skyline above the train station has been dominated by the £20m Platform building.

Delivered by property company Bruntwood, the 120,000 sq ft building covers 13 floors and provides office space, co-working space, a roof terrace, central court, event space and board rooms.

The building is now 95% occupied and despite the construction phase presenting a fair amount of “operational challenges”, Craig Burrow, Leeds director for Bruntwood, said that Platform’s first year was “really successful.”

Burrow, who will be one of the speakers at TheBusinessDesk.com’s upcoming Outlook 2019 seminar,  said: “From a construction point of view, it was a long project. From a workspace perspective it was a challenge to design something that was such a long time in construction, and that was still going to relevant and thought-leading when it was completed.

“We got the right balance because we wanted to create a space that was not too corporate and not too creative.”

As a result of this approach, Burrow explained that there has been a wide “diversity of customers that have been attracted to the building. We’ve raised the bar in terms of workspace in Leeds.”

The former City House building also features a Tech Hub on the first three floors, which is designed as a co-working space and small offices for the city’s emerging digital companies.

Burrow explained: “The original ambition for the Tech Hub wasn’t around replicating something that already existed, it is intended to be complementary and to support the connection of the existing provision.

He also said that the hub acts as a “front door for the tech and digital sectors” in the city centre.

Burrow added: “The Tech Hub has the ability to take everything from a hot desk for a couple of day a week through to a wide range of businesses sizes, subject to having the space available. It is and will continue to play an important role in terms of supporting the building’s wider eco-system.”

In addition to attracting tech and digital companies, Platform is also home to number of larger firms in the legal sector, such as Shoosmiths and Reed smith. Shoosmiths has already expanded in the building by taking an additional 5,000 sq ft on top of the full floor it is already occupying earlier this year. Burrow called this a “great growth story for Leeds.”

Commenting on Shoosmiths, which was the first company to commit on a pre-let at Platform, Burrow said: “The firm has used the building a tool to support its recruitment process, which enabled Shoosmiths in its ambitious growth strategy. This served as a vote of confidence for the building.”

Reed Smith chose Platform as the home of its first Northern UK office, taking around 5,000 sq ft and creating 30 roles, with the ambition to expand its operation to as many as 100 staff.

Burrow said Platform provided Reed Smith “with the space needed, but also with the flexibility to support its growth plans as well. To attract a name like this is great.”

He added the large part of Platform’s success is its co-working spaces that aim to support businesses throughout their growth journeys. Spaces such as this create communities and promote collaboration between businesses.

Burrow said: “People’s requirements for workspace has changed so where you can work and when you need to work has also changed. Our co-working space is not just about a 1-4 person business sat with another similar business, but it is the wider business support services that the building offers.

“Co-working space is an evolving market and an evolving process, but it is here to stay.”

In terms of what businesses Platform is looking to attract going forward, Burrow said that “we want businesses that are going to be able to play their part in the overall eco-system of the building and its wider community.”

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