Sky Plaza skyscraper opens doors
ONE of the tallest student buildings in the world has been completed in Yorkshire.
Sky Plaza, a 37-storey student accommodation tower in Leeds has 533 ensuite rooms for students who are due to move in to the 104-metre high building in September.
The £30m building, which is in the city centre beside the inner ring road, was constructed by York-based Shepherd Construction and took two years to completed.
It will provide, along with the exisiting Plaza accommodation, space for up to 1,500 students at Leeds Metropolitan University and its various faculties in flats with up to five bedrooms as well as studios and one-bedroom apartments.
Family-owned Shepherd has just handed over the building to UNITE Group, the UK’s leading developer and manager of student accommodation with 36,000 UK tenants.
During the construction, a 130-metre high crane – the tallest ever seen in Leeds – was used to erect the building which also required around 3000 metres sq of concrete and 400 tonnes of reinforcement.
Neil Clarke, Shepherd’s construction director said: “The tight logistics of the site necessitated coordinating delivery times and ensuring good site management at all times.
“Throughout the build, we have worked to the Shepherd way, the company’s adoption of the lean manufacturing technique to cut out inefficiencies and waste which has played an integral part in the project being completed on-schedule.”
Richard Simpson, development director at UNITE, commented: “We have been delighted to partner with Shepherd Construction to deliver our latest hi-specification purpose built student accommodation project in Leeds. The construction of Sky Plaza marks a significant achievement for UNITE representing our largest single scheme to date and look forward to welcoming our customers in September for the new academic year.”
